The hallway in David Douglas High School’s south building on the first day of school for all students Sept. 4, 2024. Several students in OPB’s Class of 2025 project started their senior year this fall.
Elizabeth Miller / OPB
Oregon students are showing signs of recovering from learning losses and disruptions from COVID-19, attending school more regularly and earning high school credits more consistently.
More Oregon ninth-graders are on track to graduate high school in four years, and more students, especially elementary schoolers, are regularly attending classes.
Those are two big, statewide improvements in the Oregon Department of Education’s latest data, primarily reflecting the 2023-24 school year.
On Thursday, the state agency released its annual At-A-Glance profiles — individual district and school report cards that help families and educators see how their schools are faring. The profiles provide detailed information on the schools and districts serving more than 547,000 K-12 students statewide.
Some of the results are promising.
The percentage of ninth graders who are on track to graduate from high school increased to 84.8%. This number is based on whether the students have earned at least a quarter of their required graduation credits by the end of their freshman year.
This is the second-highest rate ever recorded in Oregon, following the 2018-19 school year at 85.3%.
The on-track rate improved for student groups across the board, regardless of race or other socioeconomic factors. The only exceptions were students in foster care and students connected to the military. Both of those groups saw minor declines and have for the past few years.
ODE officials noted the Phoenix-Talent School District near the Oregon-California border as a glowing example of a district that’s made substantial progress with its high school freshmen. The small Phoenix High School boasts a high on-track-to-graduate rate, and their migrant students were “well above state averages.” Both came in at more than 95% on track.
School leaders told the department they attribute their success to more family engagement, especially in Spanish. They established a school-based health center and affinity groups, and leaders said career-technical education has been “essential.” They also leveraged summer learning grants and peer mentorships, among other things, which helped boost the number of freshmen on track.
The percentage of students who were considered “regular attenders” increased this year as well, rising to 65.7%.
Students are considered regular attenders if they go to school more than 90% of the days they are enrolled. Attendance is key, experts often repeat, because students can’t learn if they aren’t there, and research shows regular school attendance has lasting positive effects on students and their communities.
The jump in Oregon’s latest attendance rates included a notable increase for elementary school students specifically. However, every grade from kindergarten through high school saw at least some improvement.
Like the ninth graders on track metric, progress was seen in attendance across races and socioeconomic backgrounds, except for students in foster care, who’ve seen steady declines in attendance over the past few years.
While the overall numbers show a much-needed increase, Oregon’s attendance rates have been slower than other states to improve, and they’re still well below pre-pandemic levels. This year’s nearly 66% rate of students regularly attending is well below the almost 80% back in 2018-19.
“[We] still have a long way to go to meet the needs of Oregon’s scholars,” said ODE Director Charlene Williams. “We must continue our focus on maintaining high expectations, providing opportunities for our students to succeed, and supporting our schools and educators.”
Oregon Department of Education Director Charlene Williams speaks at a press conference following a tour of summer school programs at Imlay Elementary School in Hillsboro, Ore., on Wednesday, July 31, 2024.
Natalie Pate / OPB
But there is reason to hope. ODE officials highlighted work in Mt. Angel School District’s John F. Kennedy High School as a success story to learn from.
The mid-Willamette Valley school has especially increased the attendance of its students who identified as Hispanic or Latino by nearly 24 percentage points in the last year. Previously, less than half of Hispanic students attended regularly; now, almost three-quarters do.
In discussions with state officials, school and district leaders in Mt. Angel attributed some of the improvement to work they began years ago in the area of equity, diversity and inclusion. The district conducted a “root cause analysis” of why students weren’t attending and engaged with families and students to make changes. State leaders said Mt. Angel now celebrates attendance with campaigns, awards and recognition, for example.
The school also reviews data weekly now, and district and school board leaders get monthly reviews and check-ins. The middle school is a key player in this work as well, they said, and the work is sustained by a bicultural, biliterate community liaison who helps nurture relationships with families.
While the data in these reports help measure the success of Oregon’s school system, Williams said the ultimate goal is ensuring students are ready for life after high school.
“One of the prime directives for us as a state agency is to ensure that our students thrive academically, that they are meeting grade-level proficiency in content areas, that they’re graduating on time,” she said, “and they have the skills to enter their post-secondary opportunities, ready to learn, ready to earn and ready to contribute.”
See your school and district profiles online here.