Colt Gill
Courtesy of Gov. Kate Brown's Office
Gov. Kate Brown has named a longtime Eugene educator as Oregon’s new Education Innovation Officer.
The governor has given Bethel School District superintendent Colt Gill the job of improving the state’s dismal graduation rate. Last year, only 74 percent of students graduated high school — a rate that’s among the worst in the nation.
Gill is being asked to find out how some districts manage graduation rates of 97 percent and then spread those ideas around. He says he’s had luck with early warning systems.
“These are basically a model that look beyond student assessment scores to other factors that influence graduation rates. Things like student attendance, student behavior. And they share that information with students, so they can set goals for themselves. And with the educators,” he said.
The graduation rate for Gill’s African-American students in Eugene is 9 percent higher than the state average; for Native Americans it’s 16 percent higher; and for Latinos it’s 7 percent higher.