At the April 18 board meeting, trustees heard an update on the career, college, and military readiness of RISD graduates as part of new state requirements tied to outcomes-based funding mechanisms due to the HB 3 legislation.
“The goal of this presentation is to provide assurances to our students and families that when a student walks across the stage and earns a diploma that they demonstrate a level of career, college or military readiness that will set them up for future success,” Superintendent Branum said. “The substantial growth we have seen in all areas is a testament to the hard work of every one of our teachers, every one of our counselors, campus admins, and every member of our district leadership team.”
More than 86% of the Class of 2024 will graduate with a CCMR indicator. That’s up more than 20 percentage points from about 57% in 2022 and 65% last year. One of the 2027 Board Goals calls for the percent of graduates who meet the criteria for CCMR to increase to 70% by June 2027.
RISD students are taking AP classes, On Ramps college-level classes, and dual-credit classes at higher rates than prior years, according to RISD Executive Director of Advanced Learning Elizabeth Swaner. Another way the district prepares students for future success is through college-level testing, and both the number of students taking these tests and the scores are increasing.
So far this year, RISD Career & Technical Education students have earned 1,259 industry-based certifications with more than half of the testing yet to be done. That represents about 36% of this year’s seniors who have an industry-based certification, which is nearly 20 percentage points higher than last year with the goal of reaching over 50% of seniors this year. Students have tested across business, marketing, animation, digital media, and entrepreneurship with many more courses to come.
