Ben McMurry, Principal of West Valley High School, West Valley School District #208 in Yakima, Washington
Ben McMurry has created a positive school culture at West Valley High School where teachers are encouraged to expand curriculum offerings to provide “College-in-the-High-School” (CHS) classes. In these dual credit classes, students earn college credits for classes that they complete on the high school campus. West Valley High School offers over 40 classes for dual credit. Research indicates that students who graduate from high school with college credits are more likely to attend college and more likely to complete college.
For the 2022/23 school year, EVERY student in Grade 12 was scheduled into CHS Public Speaking for their regular English class. Every student who successfully completed these classes earned college credit via Eastern Washington University. The college credits were funded by the West Valley School District. In the previous school year, nearly 80% of seniors completed a dual credit class at West Valley High School. But disaggregated data showed differences in scheduling among various subgroups of students. Hispanic students were not scheduled into the dual credit classes at the same rate as White students.
As a champion of equity, Mr. McMurry ensured that EVERY student – 100% of the seniors taking a regular English class – was scheduled into at least one dual credit class for their senior year at West Valley High School for the 2022/23 school year. When your goal is 100% and your actions align with your goals, you can truly say that “All means All.” McMurry is committed to all students and he works each day to ensure that every student will have the skills to be successful after they graduate from high school.
Ben McMurry has served the community of West Valley as a teacher and school administrator for 21 years. He began his service as a junior high science teacher in 2002 and moved into administration in 2018.
