News

CHENEY, Wash. - As part of a community-wide effort to increase high school graduation rates in Spokane, Eastern Washington University will create a middle school student support survey that will address key topics relevant to student support. The project is entitled, "Spokane Youth Services Organizations Survey."

Led by Sue Wright, a professor in EWU's department of Sociology and Justice Studies and director of the Children's Studies program, Eastern will design, implement and report the online survey's results. The project will be supported by a Priority Spokane grant, funded by the Inland Northwest Community Foundation (INWCF), the Harriet Cheney Cowles Foundation and the Empire Health Foundation.

"We are extremely committed to this project," said EWU President Rodolfo Arévalo. "I have worked closely with Priority Spokane on ways to improve our high school graduation rates, and this project will have far reaching benefits for our region, and the youth in our area."

Community leaders joined with INWCF to form Priority Spokane in an effort to identify critical priorities and solutions - and decreasing dropout rates was at the top of the list.

"We are excited to support this effort to quantify the risk and retention factors that affect dropout behavior both for Spokane and potentially every other community across the country," said Stacey Cowles, Trustee, Harriet Cheney Cowles Foundation. "Fact-based conclusions about the problem will make it easier to build collaborative solutions."

"As a relatively newcomer to the community, Empire Health Foundation is interested in learning from EWU which organizations are addressing health related issues that typically accompany dropout rates," added Antony Chiang, president of Empire Health Foundation.

Once developed, the survey will be distributed electronically to all Spokane youth services organizations. Survey results will be analyzed and summarized for a final report beginning in mid-April.

"Priority Spokane, with EWU's assistance, will learn from approximately 200 organizations about their experiences with interacting with middle school students," said Mark Hurtubise, president and CEO of Inland Northwest Community Foundation. "We are very proud of this collaborative effort with EWU."

The EWU project team will include up to four graduate and advanced undergraduate researchers. Eastern's Office of Institutional Research, Demography and Assessment will assist with the survey. The total project cost is approximately $29,000, with the grant covering most of the expenses and EWU in-kind contributions (salary, benefits) covering the balance.

For more information, please contact Sue Wright at 509.359.4817 or swright@ewu.edu. You can also learn more about Priority Spokane and INWCF at www.priorityspokane.org or www.inwcf.org.