Last academic year, about two-thirds of students statewide attended school more than 90% of the time. That鈥檚 almost a 4% increase over the previous school year, but still about 14% lower than before the pandemic.
"The pandemic reshaped routines and attitudes around school attendance in ways we鈥檙e still working to address," Medford School District Deputy Superintendent Jeanne Grazioli said in a statement. "Many families are facing ongoing financial challenges, older students are taking on responsibilities like childcare or jobs, and the 'stay home if you鈥檙e sick' message has stuck, even though our guidance now encourages attendance if symptoms are mild."
School districts in Southwestern Oregon are following a similar trend regarding attendance.
Central Point School District 6 is slightly above the statewide attendance average.
"Engaging instruction really is the key to having kids want to attend school," Superintendent Walt Davenport said. "They want to be with their friends, of course, and they do value the relationships they have with their teachers. But really providing an interesting educational experience and an engaging, robust classroom environment is really key to improving student attendance."
Davenport said the district also offers incentives like parties to encourage attendance.
Even though attendance is lower than it was before the pandemic, he said he still sees this year as a victory because attendance in the district increased since last academic year.
However, the district did not do as well on its test scores in English Language Arts and Mathematics.
"We are not satisfied with how we're performing as a district, and we are making some really big efforts in our professional development that occurs every Wednesday through our professional learning communities," Davenport said.
The data also shows an increase in the percentage of ninth grade students who are considered to be on track to graduate high school, up to almost 85%.
Phoenix-Talent School District 4 ranked especially high in this metric, with over 93% of its ninth graders on track to graduate.
Superintendent Brent Barry said they鈥檝e worked hard to have a smooth transition from middle to high school.
"We have a Link Leader program where we have upperclassmen connect with our freshman class. So that happens at the beginning of the year," he said. "Our graduation coaches, as well as our counselors, are really monitoring data on a weekly basis to make sure that kids are showing up."
Meanwhile, other schools in Southwestern Oregon were below the statewide average in this area. The data shows Medford had about 74% of its ninth graders on track to graduate high school, while Brookings-Harbor had about 73% and Klamath Falls City Schools had under 65%.
"We set growth targets based on trend data, and we exceeded our target," Grazioli said in a statement. "We attribute this to better tracking and early warning systems being utilized more consistently. Attendance in high school continues to be an area that needs improvement and directly impacts student progress."
