The Oregon Department of Education has released annual data on key metrics at the school, district and state levels.

More Oregon students are regularly attending school and on track to graduate, but school districts are still struggling to bring attendance back to pre-pandemic levels, according to data released by the state Department of Education on Nov. 21.

The data, which the state releases annually, provides a window into progress on key metrics at the school, district and state levels.

“These profiles are more than just numbers,” Charlene Williams, the director of the Department of Education, said at a recent webinar. “They are an opportunity for us to respond thoughtfully, using proven strategies to improve student outcomes while adjusting where needed to address these emerging challenges.”

On-track graduation

At the state level, just under 85% of ninth graders had earned at least one-quarter of their required credits for graduation in their first year of high school — a 1.2-point increase from the previous year and the second-highest rate ever recorded.

Some Clatsop County school districts saw a greater increase. The Astoria School District saw more than 95% of its ninth-graders on track to graduate — a six-point increase from 89% the previous school year — while the Seaside School District saw 86% of students on track to graduate, up seven points.

Sheila Roley, the interim superintendent of the Astoria School District, attributed some of the district’s successes to graduation coaches who focus on helping students with the transition from eighth to ninth grade.

“That’s kind of the focus year,” she said. “If kids do well as freshmen, stay on track with credits, they’re more likely to graduate moving forward. And if a student has a tough freshman year and doesn’t accumulate as many credits as you would hope for a freshman, it just becomes a steeper hill to climb.”

Susan Penrod, the Seaside superintendent, said her district has had a similar focus. Over the past three years, they’ve added additional counseling staff, including two teachers on special assignment focusing on student success at the middle and high schools. Most recently, they added a counseling position as part of their ninth-grade on-track program.

The Warrenton-Hammond School District had the third-highest percentage of graduation-ready ninth graders in the county at 83%. Although that number is on par with the state average, it’s a dip from the previous school year, when the district reported that 91% of its ninth-graders were on track to graduate. It’s still higher, however, than the district’s graduation readiness rate reported for the 2021-2022 school year.

Tom Rogozinski, the Warrenton superintendent, said it’s important to look at the data in context to better understand whether graduation-readiness rates are shifting because of a systems change or because of the makeup of a cohort.

“The wraparound services that we were providing when we hit … that 91% were exactly the same in the following year or similar, and the same personnel,” Rogozinksi said. “So it necessitates just a little bit of a deeper dive into, is it subject specific? Was it related to the alt-ed school? Those types of things.”

The district has put a significant portion of its High School Success funding toward ninth-grade on-track staff. Rogozinski also highlighted the district’s focus on supporting career and technical education programs as another path toward graduation.

The Knappa School District saw no change from the previous school year, remaining at about 80%. Superintendent Bill Fritz said he sees the data as a window into school performance, but not necessarily one that provides the full picture.

Because student cohorts change each year, a variety of factors can influence graduation readiness. However, he said the district has a team of teachers who regularly meet to focus on student success. They’ve also used High School Success funds for a position focused on tracking student performance data.

“Because we’re pretty small, she’s able to really individualize and meet with students pretty regularly to encourage them and coach them and keep them motivated to move forward,” Fritz said.

He added that the district’s alternative education program, which launched last year, has helped give a small cohort of students the opportunity to get support and earn credits in a more flexible format. Two graduates from the high school’s Class of 2024 went through the program. Most participants started the program with chronic absenteeism, but some saw up to a 40% improvement in attendance after starting.

The Jewell School District, the smallest in the county, did not have enough students to be included in an on-track graduation calculation last school year. During the most recent school year the district did qualify for — 2021-2022 — 95% of ninth-grade students were on track to graduate.

Regular attenders

At the state level, 65.7% of students were regular attenders during the last school year, meaning they attended more than 90% of their enrolled days between the beginning of the school year and the first school day in May. That figure is an increase of 3.8 points from the previous school year, though it still sits considerably lower than pre-pandemic levels.

In Clatsop County, every school district saw similar improvements, with some far exceeding the state average. In Jewell, 81% of students were regular attenders — a 26-point increase from the previous year. After a series of administrative changes over the last few years, Cory Pederson, the Jewell superintendent, said he sees the data as a sign of the district turning over a new leaf.

Pederson said the district has been focused on building a multitiered system of support, including setting behavioral expectations for common spaces, revisiting the school’s code of conduct and increasing communication with families through a new newsletter and more face-to-face conversations.

“We’re thrilled with our attendance rates, but we know for sure there’s definitely room for improvement, and we are targeting that improvement,” Pederson said. “Every kid needs to be present for school.”

Astoria also saw a significant uptick in the percentage of students regularly attending classes, at 77% as compared to 64% during the previous school year.

Roley said the district has four English- and Spanish-speaking family liaisons who play a role in outreach and improving attendance. Having support at school also plays into attendance. Roley said each school in the district has multiple counselors.

“It’s really the relationships that bring kids to school,” she said. “If they think they’re going somewhere where somebody cares about them and someone wants to help them, you know, now and in their future, as opposed to a not welcoming environment, I think that’s kind of the big piece.”

Knappa saw a 70% regular attendance rate, up two points from the previous year, while Warrenton was comparable to the state average at 65%, up five points from the previous year.

Warrenton started the school year with two new family liaisons — positions funded through an Oregon Department of Education-sponsored regional educator network grant. Support looks like anything from offering transportation to school if a child misses the bus to checking in to see what factors might be affecting a student during their school day.

“We continue to pay amplified attention to that metric,” Rogozinski said of regular attendance. “It’s very hard for our instructional prowess to be effective if the students aren’t here to receive it. So with that, I think it is a systems approach, right? We’re trying to be really vigilant in monitoring students and situations where students are struggling to attend school, then we are responding to that by connecting with them.”

Seaside was the only local district with a lower percentage of regular attenders than the state as a whole, at 57%. That’s still an improvement from the previous school year, however, when it tracked just 54% of students regularly attending.

The district has one Spanish-speaking family liaison at the elementary level and is looking to fill another position on the secondary level. In addition, Penrod said the district focuses on attendance by sending “nudges” to families, periodically letting them know how many days of school a student has missed.

“I think all districts are struggling to increase our regular attenders since we’ve been back from COVID,” Penrod said. “It is still a big priority for us and once again, you know, having staff work directly with students, and the most successful things we’ve seen so far have been personal conversations with students and families.”

As school districts continue to climb back from the pandemic and work toward graduation readiness, Williams said the statewide improvements can serve as both a sign of hope and a call to continued action.

“While these gains signal progress, they also remind us of the work still ahead to meet the needs of each and every scholar,” Williams said. “At Oregon Department of Education, we are committed to maintaining high expectations for all of our students, expanding opportunities for their success and ensuring robust support for schools and educators.”