In one rural Washington school district, all the children are above average

Rural Washington schools generally outperform their urban counterparts, but one rural school district is experiencing unprecedented success. The 82-student Bickleton School District boasts a 100 percent graduation rate. "Seventy-eight percent of the students in seventh through 12th grades achieve a 3.0 grade-point average or better and 90 percent of the students move on to higher education," Jody Lawrence-Turner of The Spokesman-Review reports. Thanks to added tax revenue from nearby windmills, the district plans to construct a new state-of-the art K-12 school.

"In Bickleton, you have to want to fail. Their teachers get on them, their coaches. We pull them aside, talk to the parents," Superintendent Ric Palmer told Lawrence-Turner. "We find solutions so they have a successful education experience." The district requires students to complete 26 credits, which exceeds the requirements of both the state and Spokane Public Schools. Bickleton uses an extended school day, from 8 a.m. to 3:40 p.m., to accommodate the larger credit load, but it went to a four-day school week last winter to cut transportation costs.

"The average class size in so-called 'rural remote' districts is five to 10 students, which can be an ideal teaching environment, many educators say," Lawrence-Turner writes. A recent study from Rural Education Center at Washington State University revealed rural schools in the state have the highest average of on-time graduates, but Bickleton's rate still stands out above the 77.4 percent average for all "rural remote" schools. The Bickleton School District approved a $10.4 million bond to build a new school last year, largely because new wind turbines in the area had increased property values there by about $600 million in four years. (Read more)