Local News: Graduation rates up in area school districts
Good news about education in Oregon: the state’s four-year graduation rate, now at 80 percent, has never been higher. And school school districts in the four counties that make up the Northwest Regional Education Service District (or ESD) collectively outperformed the state graduation rate in 2018-19 by 6 points.
The Northwest Regional Education Service District is the largest of Oregon’s 19 ESDs. It serves 20 school districts in Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook and Washington counties. These school districts serve nearly 104,000 students. Unless you work in education, you might only hear about ESDs when there are weather related school closures. An education service districts (ESD) is a regional education unit in the state of Oregon. ESDs provide school districts with educational programs and services which are too costly or limited in demand for a single location. Oregon ESDs are able to moderate costs by coordinating services among multiple districts.
High school success highlights from the four-county region include:
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The four-year graduation rate for Astoria School District jumped to 85.8 percent from 77.7 percent.
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Even after an 8-point leap from last year, graduation rate gains continued to grow for Tillamook School District, where the four-year graduation rate grew to 86.6 percent from 84.1 percent.
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Rainier School District helped an additional 8 percent of its students from the class of 2018 cross the finish line by the end of their fifth year.
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At 82 percent, 84 percent, 88 percent and 87 percent, respectively, Clatsop, Columbia, Tillamook and Washington counties outperformed the state average of 80 percent.
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Astoria, Knappa and Warrenton-Hammond school districts all saw increases in excess of 27 points for economically disadvantaged students.