Highline School District officials disputed last week a new study that labels Tyee and Evergreen High schools as "dropout factories."

According to a Johns Hopkins University study, Tyee in SeaTac and Evergreen in North Highline are among 22 of 290 high schools in the state where less than 40 percent of students who start as freshman are still enrolled by their senior year.

In a study for the Associated Press, university researchers analyzed federal Education Department figures for three years, comparing 12th grade enrollment against ninth-grade enrollment for each school.

Highline district spokeswoman Catherine Carbone Rogers characterized the "dropout factory" label as "inflammatory" and termed the university's effort as more of a report than a research study.

Rogers noted the study did not track individual students. And reasons for differences in freshman and senior class sizes, including transfers, district enrollment decline and students who move out of state, were not taken into account, she said.

The study's conclusions are also unfair to districts like Highline where an abundance of apartments and rental housing leads to a high mobility rate, according to Rogers.

She added that the assumption that entering pupils will offset students leaving the district does not hold for Highline, where enrollment is declining slightly.

"We are not making excuses," Rogers said. "We just want to be measured with reliable standards."

Highline does not count students who transfer to another school outside the district in district in its dropout statistics.

"It is not a perfect system, but it is more reliable and we have an idea of what happened to the student," Rogers added.

While the Johns Hopkins study pegs Tyee and Evergreen dropout rates at around 60 percent, state graduation statistics paint a different picture.

The State Superintendent of Public Instruction's office sets Tyee's 2006 on-time graduation rate at 51 percent and Evergreen's at 67 percent.

Factoring in an "extended graduation rate" to cover students who take more than four years to earn their degree, Tyee's figures go up to 57 percent and Evergreen's to 75 percent.

However, Rogers emphasized, "graduation rates are not where we want them to be. Until we get to 100 percent, we will not be satisfied."

A district analyst showed that at the start of this school year, slightly more than half of Highline seniors were on track to graduate this spring.

This year's seniors are the first class that not only must accumulate enough class credits but also pass both the reading and writing sections of the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) to graduate.

According to Highline accountability director Alan Spicciati, 16.4 percent of seniors district-wide are behind in class credits and have not passed the WASL, 16.7 percent are behind in credits but passed the WASL and 10.5 percent are on track with credits but did not pass the WASL.

Spicciati did not have figures on how many students may be just a few credits shy and could make up the credits by spring. Students can retake portions of the WASL they did not pass or seek alternate methods to fulfill the requirement.

Rogers notes Tyee and Evergreen, the two schools cited in the university study, have switched to small learning schools within the larger campus settings for a more personalized education.

"It shows we recognized needed changes, "Rogers declared.

District educators say the approach should result in higher academic performance and fewer dropouts.

Tyee switched two years ago while Evergreen's small schools began in September.

Highline High in Burien and Mt. Rainier in Des Moines also assign students to small academies but students may cross over to take classes in other academies.

Rogers said district staffers have heard from many students that the more personalized schools have motivated them to stay in school.

An emphasis in earlier grades on planning for college and career also have demonstrated to students that they must stay in school to achieve their goals, according to Rogers. We're on the right track."

She said it is too early to have reliable data on the effect small schools will have on dropout rates at Tyee and Evergreen. Separate Tyee schools graduated their first classes in June. Those students only attended the academies for their final two years.

According to WASL test results for Tyee 10th-graders, reading scores went down in two of the schools and up in one between 2006 and 2007.

All three learning communities improved in writing but declined in math.

Two schools declined slightly in science while one improved.

Under provisions of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, Tyee did not make adequate yearly progress and is considered to be in step 4 of improvement status. However, district high schools do not receive federal Title I funds, so no sanctions are applied.

In addition to the small schools, the district offers several alternative high schools programs for students at risk of dropping out, including Aviation High, Big Picture High, New Start and Choice.