OPB tracking Earl Boyles class of 2025

Posted March 2021

By Jonas Hobson-Reeves

Staff Reporter

Oregon Public Broadcasting, or OPB, began a unique project in 2013: it decided to follow a group of 27 students from Earl Boyles Elementary School, from the David Douglas District, from kindergarten through high school, after then Governor John Kitzhaber set the goal that by the year 2025, he wanted the state to graduate 100 percent of its high school students.

These 27 students are the graduating class of 2025, many of whom are now at Ron Russell Middle School. OPB focused on the challenges these students endured while going through their lives and in school, seeing how it can affect their place in school, showing off things like students who had a hard time with dyslexia, or students who had a hard time changing environments so drastically.

"Educators say early education is key to student success and graduation," OPB reported. "Kids need to start mastering certain skills as early as first, second and third grade to reach high school graduation on time."

OPB also showed the impact of the switch between elementary and middle school by asking the students to express their concerns and worries. A lot of the students were worried about having multiple classes and meeting a lot of new people. There was also a focus on attendance and the effects it had on the students learning, pointing out that students with higher attendance had a better experience and felt learning came easier to them. Language barriers at home and at school was another barrior. Many district students speak English as a second language, and their parents speak a different language. This has caused a lot of additional challenges for ELL students and has made it harder to do what other students take for granted. The district has put a lot of focus on the solutions to solve these problems.

OPB profiled one students who had to deal with homelessness and how that seriously affected their school life, making it increasingly hard for them to focus on their learning as they were more worried about where they were going to sleep.

Their progress throughout the COVID 19 breakout is also currently being monitored and a lot of them have expressed their opinions on the current situation having varying responses depending on their situation at home.