Oregon sees grad rates climb
By Terry Murry on Thursday, January 26th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News Featured Stories
SALEM – The Oregon Department of Education says the class of 2022 made gains in every student group and recorded an overall four-year, high school graduation rate of 81.3 percent. Further, ODE reported that students that completed at least two credits in an approved career and technical education program had a graduation rate of 93 percent. The statewide rate for the class of 2021 was 80.63 percent.
“There is more work to do, and we are ready to keep working to make sure all students have what they need to succeed,” ODE Director Colt Gill said.
Crunching the numbers locally, the Pendleton School District had a graduation rate of 81.62 percent, well over the 2020-21 average of 75.52 percent. The district encompasses three high schools. Pendleton High School’s grad rate for 2022 was 89.81, up from 78.53. Nixyaawii Community School rose from 80 percent in 2021 to 82.76. Hawthorne Alternative School showed an increase to 39.02 percent from 38.10 percent.
The Hermiston School District had a graduation rate of 80.36 percent, down from the 2020-21 rate of 87.97 percent. Milton-Freewater experienced a big rise from 74.58 percent to 83.85 percent. The Umatilla School District rocketed up from 81.08 percent to 90.53 percent. Heppner had a graduation rate of 96.97 percent, down from 100 percent the year before. The overall graduation rate for the Morrow County School District overall was 96.32 percent, which is unchanged. Ione graduated 85 percent after graduating 100 percent in 2021-22.
Two school districts in Umatilla County had a graduation rate of 100 percent. They are Helix and Ukiah. Athena-Weston had a graduation rate of 89.29, up from 83.33. Echo graduated 93.75 percent, a small drop from 94.44. Pilot Rock took off like a rocket with 95.45 graduating in 2022, compared to 82.76 percent the year before. Stanfield graduated 90.70, down from 92.11 in 2021.
A lengthy breakdown of every student group in every school district is available on the Oregon Department of Education’s website. The above figures are for the four-year graduation rate, not the completer rate.
Thanks to Michele Madril of the InterMountain Education Service District for help with the Umatilla and Morrow counties’ figures.
