Math class helps keep students at tech school

EVERETT — The Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center just might have solved a tricky WASL math problem that was costing it student enrollments.

State law requires juniors and seniors who have not passed the math Washington Assessment of Student Learning to continue taking math until they graduate.

That requirement was putting the squeeze on enrollment at the south Everett campus. Students typically split time between Sno-Isle, where they can learn trades such as welding, fashion design and robotics, and their home schools, where they fulfill graduation requirements. Many were forced to stay at their home schools for math.

Sno-Isle’s answer was to hire a math teacher to work with students and teachers. The new math emphasis can count toward meeting the math credit requirement, which has hurt enrollment at regional skills centers across the state.

“It seems to be working well,” said Steve Burch, Sno-Isle’s director.

Fran Falkenberry teaches a Sno-Isle math course for academic credit, tutors individuals and small groups, and works alongside Sno-Isle teachers as they weave math into their disciplines, whether converting centigrade to Fahrenheit in a nurse assisting class or using a construction calculator in a carpentry class.

“When they learn math that’s applicable, they don’t see it as doing math,” Falkenberry said.

The skills center has seen a decline in applications in recent years.

Burch doesn’t think a lack of student interest is the reason behind the decline. He believes new graduation requirements for students who fail the math WASL are keeping potential students away.

Last spring, there were 1,366 applications to enroll this year at Sno-Isle and 836 students showed up in the fall. Three years before, Sno-Isle had nearly 2,000 applications and an enrollment of more than 1,000. Traditionally, there has been about a 20 percent attrition rate among students who accept invitations to enroll in Sno-Isle in the spring and those who actually show up in the fall.

Burch said he believes enrollment will be in the 850- to 900-student range next fall, thanks in part to being able to offer math help at the center.

There could have been more students, but there will be a space crunch next year. Construction on an $8.8 million project to expand and remodel Sno-Isle classrooms will be in full swing by summer. It will significantly change the face of the campus, with 23,000 square feet of new construction and 26,000 feet of remodelled classroom space.

Seven new programs are being added, including classes for aircraft service technician training, auto body collision repair, low-voltage electrical work, ­game programming and courses that will explore solar and environmental energy. A cosmetology program will be moved to the campus from another site.

Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446, stevick@heraldnet.com.