Oregon’s high schoolers graduated at the same rate in 2023 as they did the previous year, the Oregon Department of Education announced Thursday.
Statewide, 81.3% of high schoolers graduated in four years. The rate remains the state’s second highest, after the class of 2020, which had a graduation rate of 82.6%.
“This class of 2023, which entered school in the fall of 2019, were in ninth grade when the pandemic hit, and so they’ve endured the full, multi-year impact of the pandemic on their learning,” said Jon Wiens, ODE’s director of reporting, accountability and data.
Oregon has calculated the rates since 2008. Pre-pandemic, Oregon’s graduation rate had been increasing for about eight years.
The newest data shows particular improvements in three groups, which each hit all-time highs.
Former English learners — students who completed an English Learner program before starting high school — graduated at a rate of 87.6%. That’s 6 percentage points higher than the statewide average.
Special education students graduated at a rate of 68.6%. And the graduation rate for students experiencing homelessness increased 2 percentage points, to 60.6%.