With a Strong Focus on Academics, Harrison Prep Is On Path of Success

At Harrison Preparatory School, success isn’t just expected – it’s reality.

The school, which opened in 2005, not only has a 100 percent graduation rate, but students from outside the district routinely apply to attend, principal Lisa Boyd said in a report to the Clover Park School Board during its meeting Monday night.

Boyd is in her sixth year in the district, but often jokes that she has really been with CPSD for 20 years – she started out as a kindergartener at Lake City Elementary School, which ironically is the same building that now houses Harrison Prep.

The school, which has an enrollment of 501 students in grades six through 12, focuses on the development of “caring, curious, confident and college-ready young people who have respect for multiple cultures and perspectives.”

Half of the student population is Caucasian and about 20 percent, Hispanic, and 42.7 percent of student receive free or reduced-priced lunch. One of the school’s biggest challenges comes from deployments – close to 55 percent of the student body is military dependents.

“As stresses rise due to deployments, we are meeting that need in our program,” Boyd said.

This year, 71 of Harrison Prep’s students are from out of the district, which Boyd said is the result of word of mouth and a caring and nurturing staff.

“The reputation gets out,” she said, adding that she doesn’t really have to recruit students. “It really happens organically.”

One selling point is that while the district’s graduation rate stands at 79.8 percent, 100 percent of Harrison Prep’s seniors graduate.

“I would say, if it isn’t 100, there would be a problem,” Boyd said in reference to the senior-class sizes being small.

While Superintendent Debbie LeBeau lauded Boyd for her hard work as principal, she was quick to share the credit.

“They do the hard work,” she said, pointing at her staff members sitting in the audience.

There are 120 high-school students at the school this year, which means that just one student can affect statistical figures. Reading and writing scores have been above the 90th percentile the last two school years, and math scores have increased from 50 percent to 52 percent between 2007-11.

“When one student doesn’t pass, it skews things more than at the middle-school level,” Boyd said.

At the middle-school level, sixth-grade reading scores have increased from 75 percent passage in 2007-08 to 81.5 percent in 2010-11, and math from 55 percent to 70.5 percent during the same time period. However, seventh-grade reading scores are down from 82.1 percent in 2007-08 to 52.5 percent last year, and writing has declined from 82.1 percent to 64.4 percent.

Boyd also said that she feels that 2010-11 was a tougher year than average with the curriculum.

“They’re being exposed to new things,” she said in calling the year “really rigorous and challenging for some.”

Additionally, the school is being recommended for authorization as an International Baccalaureate World School at the Middle Years level.

Among the school’s other challenges are exploring and adopting its signature program for juniors and seniors, and working within the existing space and facilities. A new school will be constructed on property adjacent to Clover Park Technical College with funds from a $92 million school-construction bond proposition approved by voters in 2010.

And test scores are always being watched. The school offers a final class of the day at 3:45 p.m. – school gets out at 3:30 – for those in need of help in a specific academic area.

School Board Vice President Marty Schafer commended Boyd for her commitment to CPSD.

“I can’t thank you enough,” he said. “You being a student and then staying and investing in the community.”