Oregon Reports Second Highest Graduation Rate In History

SALEM, Ore. – The Oregon Department of Education says the statewide graduation rate for the class of 2020-21 is 80.6 percent.

That’s the second highest rate in history.

However, it’s also a 2 percent decrease from last year.

“The data released today both demonstrates the tremendous resilience of Oregon’s youth and makes it clear that COVID-19 not only had a disproportionate impact on the health of Oregon’s communities of color, it also had a far greater impact on students of color,” ODE Director Colt Gill said. “We know districts continue to work hard to help those students still making progress towards graduation. Over the summer, districts spent $24 million in funds allocated by Governor Brown and the Legislature to help more than 18,000 high school students earn credits towards graduation. Districts are also using funds from the Student Success Act to improve access and opportunities for students who have been historically underserved in the education system. Through unprecedented engagement with their communities, every district has their own plan to address student achievement.”

In Portland, Portland Public Schools reports a graduation rate of 84.4 percent.

That’s slightly up from last year’s 83.7 percent.

Additionally, 90% of the Class of 2021 graduated within 5 years.

“We are proud of our students for their resilience and tenacity during a time when the pandemic has brought about significant disruptions to public education and their learning experience,” shared Guadalupe Guerrero, Superintendent of Portland Public Schools. “We attribute the continued positive and incremental growth in our students earning a high school diploma at PPS to the dedicated efforts of our educators, staff and community partners to wrap around each one of our students’ success.”

Here’s more from the Oregon Department of Education:

The table below shows how some student groups fared since the 2010-2011 cohort graduated in 2014:

Other key findings from the data:

• Students participating in a Career and Technical Education (CTE) course of study significantly exceeded the statewide average, graduating at a rate of 92.9 percent.
• Students who have successfully completed English Learner programs in Oregon graduated at 84.2 percent, 3.6 percentage points higher than the statewide average.
• Black/African American students’ graduation rate of 73.5 percent was down from 76.3 percent the year before, but still higher than the 70.4 percent graduation rate for the Class of 2019.
• Hispanic/Latino students’ graduation rate of 77.0 percent was down from 79.5 percent the previous year, but still higher than the 76.2 graduation rate for the Class of 2019.
• American Indian/Alaska Native students had one of the smallest decreases of any student group, just 0.2 percentage points down to 67 percent.
• The Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander student group saw the largest decrease, down from 76.6 percent two years ago to 69.8 percent last year.
• The graduation rate for students experiencing homelessness dropped five percentage points to 55.4 percent, the same rate as the Class of 2019.