Washington state honors these four Spokane County school districts for achievement and academic progress

Four school districts in Spokane County have received the inaugural state superintendent’s award for educational excellence.

The awards, announced earlier this month, honored student achievement and academic progress and recognized 46 school districts across the state out of 295 total districts.

Riverside, Freeman, Nine Mile Falls and Liberty are the four Spokane County school districts that were recognized.

Katy Payne, the chief communications officer for the Washington Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, said the state award is meant to replace the federal Blue Ribbon Award, which the U.S. Department of Education phased out last fall, ending a tradition that began in 1982.

“They just abruptly ended the program,” Payne said. “And they encouraged states to come up with new awards from the state level. So we, at OSPI, we’ve been tracking 12 measures related to student success and opportunities. So we built an award system based on those.”

The metrics of success that OSPI considered included attendance, kindergarten readiness, participation in the highly capable program, students who take high school -level math in the eighth grade, dual -credit participation, test scores, fourth -grade reading, eighth -grade reading and math, the percentage of ninth -graders who are passing all of their classes, and district’s graduation rates. Payne said they also examined schools that have dual language programs at the elementary level, but they didn’t factor that metric into the awards methodology.

Ken Russell, the superintendent of Riverside, said his school district won in academic progress. He said the criteria for that award is based on similar metrics as the student achievement award, but examines improvement over the last three years, rather than solely last year’s results like the achievement award does.

“It builds the confidence of our staff and our students and our families,” Ken Russell said. “And it’s a testament to the hard work that all of those individuals have been doing over the past several years.”

For the 2024 -25 school year, Riverside’s graduation rate was 95.6% During that same year, 92.6% of the district’s ninth -graders passed all their courses, while 73.3% of all kindergartners were classified as being on track.

The state average for the graduation rate in the 2024-25 school year was 82.6%, while 71.9% of all ninth -graders passed all their courses. Only 53.6% of kindergartners classified as being on track over the course of last year’s school year.

Randy Russell, the superintendent of Freeman and the brother of Ken Russell, called receiving the award for student achievement a tribute to the hard work and determination of students and staff alike.

“We have the best staff in the state,” Randy Russell said. “Our kids are really committed to educational excellence, and we have incredibly supportive parents. When you partner great kids with committed, dedicated staff and a very supportive group of parents and community, it creates a winning formula.”

Among Freeman freshmen, 95.3% passed all their courses during the 2024-25 school year, while the district’s four-year graduation rate was 96% during the same period of time. For the 2025-26 school year, early statistics show that 88.1% of kindergartners were classified as ready in all six development areas for 2025-26, compared to 43.9% during the previous school year.

Nine Mile Falls School District was honored with the academic progress award. Jeff Baerwald, Nine Mile Falls superintendent , said that their school district has seen nearly a double -digit increase in kindergarten readiness. He attributed that increase to three new transition to kindergarten classrooms (essentially preschool classes) they implemented recently.

The graduation rate for the 2024-25 school year was 94.1% at Nine Mile Falls, and 94.3% of all freshmen passed all their courses that same year.

“I look at this as the ultimate team award,” Baerwald said. “So this is an award to the district that really represents, first and foremost, the work that our kids do every single day. So amazing. Kudos to them. And then obviously, their supportive families at home. And then, of course, our educators that continue to push learning and push to have a high level of support and rigor for our students.”

Liberty, had a graduation rate of 92.9% during the 2024-25 school year, and 79.5% of freshmen passed all their courses, while 89.2% of kindergartners were ready in all six areas of development and learning.

Jerrad Jeske, the superintendent for Liberty School District, echoed a similar sentiment to the other superintendents.

“I was super excited that our district received that recognition,” Jeske said. “It’s always about our teachers and our staff and honestly our families. I think all of us play a part in doing what’s best for kids every single day in a small school district like ours. It truly takes everyone.”