SCHOOLS

Salem-Keizer’s graduation rate nearly flat, with 2,800 graduates in Class of 2024

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Nearly four in five seniors in the Salem-Keizer School District graduated last year, an essentially flat rate despite significant improvements at some schools and for some groups of students.

State data released Thursday morning showed the district had 2,807 graduates in the Class of 2024 — about 200 more than in 2023.

That gives Salem-Keizer a graduation rate of 79.4%, up slightly from 79.1% in 2023. Oregon’s overall graduation rate was 81.8% — about 1,000 more graduates than in 2023.

The district’s graduation rate has hovered around 80% since 2019. It increased in 2020, when schools graduated many seniors early at the start of the Covid pandemic, then fell slightly starting in 2022.

“We’re not increasing our four year cohort rate at the speed we would love to,” said Danielle Neves, the Salem-Keizer School District’s assistant superintendent for secondary education. “But what is really exciting is that we are seeing some marked improvements.”

Black students graduated at the highest rate in at least a decade, with 83% — 49 students — earning a diploma. That exceeded the state rate of 75% and was one of the bright spots state education officials highlighted in a news conference this week.

Local data also shows slight improvements in graduation rates for Native American students. Two in three Pacific Islander students graduated, unchanged from the previous year.

Graduation rates in 2023 were about equal between white and Latino students, by far the largest racial or ethnic groups in Salem. But in 2024, the rate for white students increased slightly, while the rate for Latino students fell slightly, leaving the groups about four percentage points apart.

“Often, when we look at the big overall number, it can hide a lot of information about our students who are being most or least successful,” she said.

The data shows improvements at nearly every district high school, including North Salem, which has historically had the district’s lowest graduation rate. There, 81.8% of seniors graduated on time.

Graduation rates fell at McKay by about five percentage points, to 77.6%.

At Early College High School, every student graduated on time, while Sprague, West and South Salem high schools had at least nine in 10 students graduate.

Lasting impacts

Students in the Class of 2024 generally didn’t set foot in classrooms until the spring of their freshman year. 

State and district data over the past four years showed significant struggles for students coming out of the pandemic. Just 70% of local students were on track to graduate after their freshman year — a significant drop from pre-pandemic numbers. The drop was worse for many students of color.

State education officials said Thursday they were still trying to understand the apparent turnaround. Dan Farley, who oversees data and research for the Oregon Department of Education, said many districts he spoke to expanded after school and summer programs for credit recovery.

“That likely explains some of the progress that was made, and that’s outside of the typical classroom context,” Farley said during a news conference Tuesday.

Neves, who came to the district in the fall from Tulsa, said generally, schools set up systems to help struggling kids who came back to in-person classes with large gaps in their knowledge.

The Class of 2024 benefitted from multiple years of extra help. 

School leaders in Salem “doubled down” on helping kids catch up, she said. High schools expanded credit recovery and reached out with home visits to get more kids coming back to school regularly.

Improving belonging

Neves said the improvement in Black student graduation rates reflects a multi-year effort to give Black students mentors and ensure that schools have clubs like Black Student Unions where they can connect with one another.

She said that approach is rooted in a larger strategy of making sure each student, regardless of their identity or cultural background, has people and programs they feel connected to at school.

“Students are more successful when they feel connected. That’s what all the research shows us, right? It’s about relationships with adults. It’s about connection to the curriculum, being able to see yourself in the curriculum, being able to see people who look like you or share similar cultural values in the school, both in the staff as well as through mentors, volunteers, community members who come into the school,” she said. “If they’re feeling disconnected, they are much less likely to persevere, to be successful in their courses, to reach the graduation goal.”

The graduation rate for Black students tends to fluctuate year over year because the number of Black students in Salem is relatively small, meaning one or two additional students graduating changes the rate.

But Neves said district leaders believe the number reflects sustained changes and hope the high graduation rate for Black students will persist.

The district hasn’t seen the same success in improving graduation rates for Pacific Islander students, who have historically had among the lowest rates of any racial or ethnic group in the district.

Neves said work is underway to replicate some of what’s worked well for Black students, by starting Islander clubs at schools, bringing in mentors who speak students’ native languages and looking at improving language support for families who don’t speak English. Chuukese and Marshallese, two Micronesian languages, are among the languages the district translates written documents into.

Rachel Alexander is Salem Reporter’s managing editor. She joined Salem Reporter when it was founded in 2018 and covers city news, education, nonprofits and a little bit of everything else. She’s been a journalist in Oregon and Washington for a decade. Outside of work, she’s a skater and board member with Salem’s Cherry City Roller Derby and can often be found with her nose buried in a book.