Students living in Boulder County and attending kindergarten through high school, for the most part, attend school in either the Boulder Valley School District or the St. Vrain Valley School District.
The districts represent two of the largest school districts in the state. St. Vrain has grown as a district, and according to the State Department of Education is now larger than Boulder Valley. According to the 2014-2015 enrollment numbers, there were 31,076 students attending St. Vrain Schools. There were 30,908 students enrolled in Boulder Valley. Those are pretty close numbers, but consider: St. Vrain as a district grew its enrollment by 40 percent since 2004, and Boulder Valley grew by 11 percent. In 2014-2015, there were only 10 districts in the state with more than 25,000 students.
The Community Foundation Serving Boulder County produces the biennial TRENDS report to track data reported at the state level by both districts. That includes graduation rates.
However, graduation requirements are set at the school district level. So while data are important to us to track over time — to see where we are succeeding and where opportunities exist — comparing the data doesn’t tell the whole story. The total completion rate for students in St. Vrain was 85 percent in 2014; it was 94 percent in Boulder Valley.
Graduation requirements are about to change statewide, and it will be interesting to watch what impact that has on Boulder County’s rates. It will also be interesting to see if our two districts will come closer together in requirements. For example: Boulder Valley requires 22 credits to graduate from high school, including 2 units of math and 2 units of science. St. Vrain requires 24.5 units of credit, with 3 units of math and 3 units of science. They differ in other areas too — Boulder Valley requires 1.5 units of physical education to St. Vrain’s 2, and unlike St. Vrain, Boulder Valley requires at least one year of Level 2 or higher in a second language.
But the Class of 2021 will be the first to graduate under revised standards established by districts from a new state menu of options. The menu, adopted in September 2015, includes select proficiency scores on tests including the ACT, SAT and International Baccalaureate exams. According to the state, “students must demonstrate college or career readiness in English and math based on at least one measure in each content area from this menu.”
