Here’s what the COVID pandemic did to Tri-Cities high school graduation rates

The COVID-19 pandemic threw a wrench in Alex Petersen’s senior year at Kamiakin High.

Within weeks, she watched as teachers struggled to adapt courses that they had planned to teach in person. Classes she looked forward to became a chore, she told the Herald.

“I thought we would have been back at the end of the year,” she said. “We did not go back. It didn’t feel like it really ended.”

She wasn’t worried about graduating though. She knew a decision by state school officials meant her grades couldn’t drop.

Those moves by state and local school districts helped buoy graduation rates in the Tri-Cities and across Washington state.

Pasco, Richland and Kennewick all saw increases in the number of students who graduated in 2020 compared to previous graduation rates.

At least part of those gains came after the state Board of Education created an emergency credit waiver program, helping students who had been on track to graduate before schools closed in mid-March.

The state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction and the Board of Education are looking into how much of an impact those changes had on graduation rates.

“The Class of 2020 completed their senior year in a manner unlike all of the graduating classes before them,” state Superintendent Chris Reykdal said in a release.

“I’m proud of the way our educators, school staff and families came together to support our seniors in reaching the finish line despite the challenges they faced,” he said.

Statewide nearly 83 percent of seniors graduated on time, up 2 percent from last year.

Tri-Cities graduation rates

Graduation rates also were higher in the Richland, Pasco and Kennewick school districts compared to 2019. However, the rates overall in Pasco and Kennewick trailed the statewide average.

More than 80 percent of the Pasco School District’s class of 2020 graduated on time, up from 77 percent in 2019.

The district’s overall graduation rate has been on an upward trend since 2013 when 70 percent of the students graduated.

The state reported that 84 percent of students graduated on time at Pasco High and 87 percent at Chiawana High. That was up from 83 percent and 86 percent the year before.

The Kennewick School District’s graduation rate for the class of 2020 was 79.5 percent, up by 2.5 percent from 2019.

Kennewick High School saw an increase to 88.5 percent, the other two high schools saw declining rates.

Kamiakin dropped from 85 percent to 84 percent and Southridge went from 85 percent to 83.5 percent.

The Richland School District continued to outpace both of its neighbors with 92 percent of the 2020 class graduating.

This was a nearly 10 percent gain over the class of 2019.

Richland High and Hanford High each saw substantial gains with 98.5 percent of Richland High’s class and 94.5 of Hanford’s class graduating. That was up from 87 percent in Richland and 91 percent at Hanford.

Alternative schools also saw increases in the percentage of graduates.