Oregon’s Class of 2025 enters high school

OPB has been following a group of students from the class of 2025 since they entered kindergarten. Now we join them for their freshman year of high school. OPB’s education report Elizabeth Miller joins us with an update on the project, and how close the class of 2025 is to the goal of a 100% graduation rate.

The following transcript was created by a computer and edited by a volunteer:

Dave Miller: This is Think Out Loud on OPB, I’m Dave Miller. OPB has been following a group of students from the class of 2025 since they entered kindergarten. They are in high school now, in the early weeks of their sophomore year. OPB’s education reporter Elizabeth Miller recently finished a documentary about this group of students with a focus on their freshman year of high school, it’s going to air on OPB TV tonight at 9PM. She joins us now to talk about these students, and Oregon’s ambitious goal for a 100% high school graduation rate by the year 2025. Liz, welcome back.

Elizabeth Miller: Thanks for having me.

Dave Miller: There have been a lot of milestones over the last decade or so, but the class of 2025, for them starting high school last fall was a pretty big one. What was the beginning of ninth grade like for the students that you’ve been following?

Elizabeth Miller: It was definitely an adjustment because a lot of these students were just returning to school after distance learning. Several of the 27 of them that we follow in the class of 2025 had been at home doing distance learning and were entering a school building for the first time since the middle of seventh grade. The last full year of school they had was sixth grade. And for about half of those 27 students, they were entering the largest high school in the state, David Douglas High School. Joel is one of those students:

Joel [recording]: I was scared I was gonna go in the wrong class and everyone was going to be looking at me.

Elizabeth Miller [recording]: Did that happen?

Joel [recording]: Yeah, one time.

Elizabeth Miller [recording]: What was that like?

Joel [recording]: I was embarrassed, because everyone was looking at me like “what the heck is this guy doing here?” And then I told him “is this the right class?” and he said “No.”

Elizabeth Miller: Could you imagine?

Dave Miller: I mean the largest high school going from a middle school of a couple hundred to how many thousands?

Elizabeth Miller: About 2600. And that first day at David Douglas, students were nervous, excited, and those feelings didn’t go away after the first day, as you can imagine. It was overwhelming, and it was completely different from distance learning. But for most of them, they were happy to be back in person again.

Dave Miller: You were there throughout the rest of the year. But how did things go overall?

Elizabeth Miller: I think as well as you’d expect. The students were excited to see friends again, be back in person as I said. But there were definitely some bumps. Several of the students struggled with homework and turning in assignments, and math was a big challenge. Some of those typical things you’d expect.

But then there was COVID. COVID cases threatened to keep students home, made it challenging to operate schools because of staff. I don’t know if you remember that Omicron wave in January of this year, but that prompted a two day closure for David Douglas. But for some students, including Kaylee, being back in person meant taking new classes. She ended up in a theater class called Stagecraft, and it was unexpected, but she fell in love with it:

Kaylee [recording]: It’s much different than I expected. I thought that when I was in high school I’d be in sports and a bunch of things like that, but I’m doing the complete opposite, I’m in theater. So it’s not what I expected at all with that.

Elizabeth Miller: One thing about this high school, David Douglas, there’s a wide range of classes you can take, opportunities to find out what you like, especially classes outside of math, english and science. A couple of students found that class that they liked, like Kaylee, and now they’re sticking with it in their sophomore year. And then one thing that one of our students said that stuck with me about last year is that she felt more free last year.

Dave Miller: This whole project started out because of a goal that the state set back in 2011 that, by 2025, 40% of Oregonians would get four year degrees, another 40% would have two year degrees or professional certificates, and that the remaining 20% would at least have high school diplomas or equivalents. Where do things stand right now?

Elizabeth Miller: Well, the first thing is that Oregon’s graduation rate has definitely improved. So in 2011 it was 68%. Last year it was 81%. So we’re looking at double digit increases.

But when you break down that 40-40-20 goal, there’s still a ways to go. That first 40%, the percent of Oregonians that have a four year degree, is about 35%. The second 40%, the percent of Oregonians with a high school diploma and a two year degree or professional certificate, is pretty far from that 40% goal. Most recent numbers show it at 19%. And then as for that 20%, that last part of the 40-40-20, about 40% of Oregonians have at least a high school diploma or equivalent. So that’s way more.

And though there were gains for specific student groups, there are big gaps that remain when you look at these outcomes by race.

Dave Miller: What did you hear from state leaders about this level of progress you just outlined, 11 years after the goal was set and just a couple of years before the deadline?

Elizabeth Miller: Well, they’re still hopeful. They still say 40-40-20, and 100% graduation is still the goal.

But there are concerns, as you can imagine, about the effects of the pandemic on the ability to reach those goals, especially for students after they leave high school and those post high school plans.

Dave Miller: So to get back to the cohort that you and a team here at OPB have been following, in the new documentary that’s going to air tonight on OPB TV, you talk about some of the many factors that could get in the way of high school graduation, like changing schools or falling behind on classes or facing disciplinary actions. How did those come into play for the class of 2025?

Elizabeth Miller: Definitely, some of those things kind of happened to them this year. 9th grade is a crucial year, and one that folks in education look to as a measure of will the student graduate. In the documentary, we focused on a couple of students who have been through these changes, maybe in years past, maybe in freshman year. One student, Rayshawn, was suspended and changed schools in the middle of 9th grade. Another student, Raiden, has moved a lot in the past. So you’ll see those stories there.

But also one thing that a lot of the students struggled with last year was attendance. And if you can’t get to school, you might not be able to pass your classes, which of course impacts your chances of graduation. We talked to some of the students about attendance, like Dude:

Dude [recording]: Missing school affected my math learning a lot, because I wasn’t here for the notes at all, and I wasn’t here to understand what we were doing.

Elizabeth Miller: One thing that David Douglas did this year was bring in an attendance coordinator, someone who can reach out to families and students and try to bring that attendance rate back up.

Dave Miller: What did you hear about the level of connection that students have with teachers and staff now that they’re in high school?

Elizabeth Miller: That connection was really important, and something that they were able to do when they were back in person. One goal staff in freshman year is to make sure students have a trusted relationship with an adult, or build relationships with adults that can keep them engaged in school, but that can also be a person they feel comfortable asking for help or support. And while students were really excited to see their friends, they were really excited to meet new teachers and get to know them, like Lena:

Lena [recording]: It’s very comforting in a way, being able to know my teachers and my friends more. It’s very comforting. It just makes me feel loved.

Elizabeth Miller: That’s one of the main things that we found in this project and with freshman year was that connection is so important. Once students have that connection, if they have that connection, they want to be at school, and they want to succeed there.

Dave Miller: So that was largely a focus on last year. But as I noted, sophomore year is now upon us, about a month in or so. And you went to David Douglas High School last week. How are things going so far?

Elizabeth Miller: It seemed like students were back in a rhythm. Teachers noticed it too, students are more mature, they’re participating, they’re listening. Students seem to be more comfortable at school. They’re not freshmen anymore, and they know what they’re doing and where they’re going, which is better than I can say for myself.

One student I talked to said he’s taking his grades more seriously this year and doing his work. So I think that focus on academics and everything is just stronger this year, now that we head into sophomore year and a few more years from graduation.

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