UPDATE: 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Sept. 2

INCLINE VILLAGE, Nev. — Graduation rates at Incline High School must increase by 15 percent over the next five years in order for it to earn passing marks from the Washoe County School District.

Estela Gutierrez, president of the school board, and Heath Morrison, WCSD superintendent, recently discussed how Envision WCSD 2015 — the five-year strategic plan which outlines five goals to increase the district's 56 percent four-year graduation rate to 75 percent by the year 2015 — specifically affects Incline schools.

“It's important for parents, teachers and students in Incline Village to know they are part of the district,” Gutierrez said.

Morrison said the strategic plan was “not designed to have a specific impact on a specific set of schools,” but instead is supposed to set broad goals for all schools in Washoe County.

However, Morrison said each school will be required to form an improvement plan in concert with the overall district strategic plan.

“The reality is that different schools are at different points,” said Morrison. “If you use 60 percent graduation rate as the baseline, some schools are above and some below. However, as the system grows, all schools will need to graduate 75 percent by 2015.”

Incline High School currently graduates approximately 60 percent of its four-year students, according to previous Bonanza reports.

Gutierrez said that in the past, the district was composed of separate schools operating differently according to various standards and incorporating contrasting educational practices.

The plan fosters district-wide alignment by setting common values, goals and methodologies for administrators, board of trustee members and staff in the superintendent's office, Gutierrez said.

“Before the introduction of this plan, we were not truly a team on a district level,” Gutierrez said. “Now, we are a team.”

State vs. county grad rates

A discrepancy in the method of assessing graduation rates exists between the Nevada Department of Education and the Washoe County School District.

According to www.nevadareportcard.com — a website administered by the state — the graduation rate for Incline High School in the 2009-10 academic year was 87.2 percent. However, Washoe County estimates Incline's graduation rate at about 60 percent.

The difference is the school district calculates rates by analyzing how many students start their freshman year and eventually graduate; the state calculates rates by how many students start their senior year and eventually graduate.

“The state's focus is on 12th-graders, where as the district focus on students 9-12,” said WCSD Assistant Superintendent Pedro Martinez.

Martinez said the district's methodology is in concert with federal practices for graduation assessment.

“We want to assess how many children that enter high school actually finish,” he said.

Five years

Morrison's contract is scheduled to expire in 2012, thus creating the potential for the superintendent to not be here to fully execute the plan.

Gutierrez said the contract expiration will give the board an opportunity to assess Morrison's policies.

“That's traditional for any superintendent to be on a three-year contract,” she said. “It's a good thing because it allows the board to continually evaluate the superintendent's performance.”

Annual assessment of the strategic plan was a point of emphasis for both Morrison and Gutierrez.

Morrison compared the strategic plan to a game plan a football coach forms prior to a game, saying it evolves according to changing conditions on the field, and Gutierrez agreed.

“We will continue to assess the particulars of the plan as it unfolds,” she said. “But, overall, the plan remains about district-wide reform. It is a call to action.”