At A Glance school profiles give glimpse of positive developments

Published: November 21, 2024

The five school districts in Grant County have steadily improved their attendance since dropping to 62% in 2022, according to Bonni Booth, the Every Day Matters specialist for Grant County.

In October, the county achieved 78% regular attendance, the same rate it had in October 2020-21 when students were returning to schools after COVID-19 restrictions with more lenient attendance standards.

That kind of attendance victory is one of the bright spots many Oregon communities will find in the At-A-Glance school profiles published Thursday by the Oregon Department of Education.

The profiles are designed to give communities and families important information so they can see their schools' strengths and weaknesses in key academic success markers compared with the previous year and the state.

The profiles mostly compile previously released data, but the attendance numbers are new for the public. For 2023-24, 65.7% of Oregon students were considered regular attenders, meaning they were in class more than 90% of their school days, according to ODE. Students who don't meet that mark are classified as chronically absent.

The latest data show a 3.8 percentage point rise from 2022-23, although that is still far below the pre-pandemic level of 79.6%.

According to ODE's data, student attendance improved at every grade level, among every student racial and ethnic identity, and in every tracked student group except students in foster care.

The data also show the percentage of Oregon ninth graders on track to graduate has continued to climb since it plummeted following the pandemic. The measure of high school freshmen who have passed at least a quarter of their credit requirements rose 1.2 percentage points to 84.8%, according to ODE, less than a percentage point below the 2018-19 rate.

"While these gains signal progress, they remind us of the work ahead to meet the needs of each and every scholar," said Oregon Department of Education Director Charlene Williams.

The Oregon Legislature convened a chronic absenteeism workgroup led by Sen. Suzanne Weber and Rep. Hoa Nguyen, a David Douglas School Board member. The group's September report included legislative proposals to collect more data and provide more attendance support.

OSBA has made addressing chronic absenteeism, which soared after the pandemic, one of its three top legislative priorities for 2025.

"These are promising signs, but there is more work to do," said Efren Zamudio, OSBA Legislative Services specialist. "Our educators need all the support we can give them so they can be fully present for the relationships we know are essential to keeping children in school."

Research shows students who attend class regularly have higher academic achievement and attendance is a key indicator correlated with high school graduation, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. OSBA's work to raise student achievement is directly tied to making sure children are in class, Zamudio said.

Other new data in the profiles include a revised definition of students in poverty that combines measures of families receiving public assistance and students in foster care or facing houselessness. The old definition relied on students receiving free meals, but changes in federal law have allowed nearly all Oregon schools to provided free meals for all their students.

Chronic absenteeism has been a national problem following the pandemic. ODE launched the Every Day Matters campaign to support Oregon school efforts.

Booth, who works for the Grant County Education Service District, creates Every Day Matters social media, school events and public messages personalized with local photographs and people to reinforce the importance of attendance. She said the county has also been effective at using the courts to push parents to get their children to school while giving them the supports they need.

She said students missing school is rarely as simple as their just deciding not to go. More often it is an issue of housing instability, transportation challenges, misconceptions about attendance importance or bad experiences while in school.

"We try to meet every barrier and obstacle with a solution," Booth said.

- Jake Arnold, OSBA
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