By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Post secondary success information for all school districts in Kansas was just released and Buhler USD 313 Superintendent Cindy Couchman said their stats were really good.
"It is actually a look at two years after your graduates have left your building," Couchman said. "There's lots of ways to measure success of a student after graduation. They are basically looking at, after two years, how many of your students have earned an industry-recognized certification while in high school? Sometimes, you know, you get like a welding certificate while you're in high school. That would count. A student, that maybe has earned an associate of arts degree in two years, or I guess it's possible to earn a B.S. in two years and then also, the last one would be, if they are still remaining in college in the two years that they are out after school."
Remember that this would be the class whose senior year was cut short by COVID.
"We are constantly improving," Couchman said. "What we are really proud of, is we have almost hit all of the benchmarks the state department has said is the vision. That is a graduation rate of 95%, an effective rate of 70 to 75%. The effective rate means you take your graduation rate, ours in 2020 was 95.3%. Of those, what percentage are successful after two years?"
That number is at 75.9% with the effective rate at 72.4%. The five-year average for Buhler is 69.4%, which puts Buhler in the top tier of districts in the state in these measures.