The following transcript was generated using automated transcription software for the accessibility and convenience of our audience. While we strive for accuracy, the automated process may introduce errors, omissions, or misinterpretations. This transcript is intended as a helpful companion to the original audio and should not be considered a verbatim record. For the most accurate representation, please refer to the audio recording.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm Michael Dunne. There's a famous line that goes, 85% of success is just showing up. And while that oversimplifies a lot, it does underscore how important it is in all aspects of life to be present. And nowhere is that more important than an education. Yet in Oregon and here in Lane County, the absentee rate among students is historically stubbornly and frustratingly high. Today on the show, you'll hear from two reporters who dove deep into the statewide and county numbers related to missed school amongst our kids. There's a little good news statewide, it's getting a bit better, but here in Lane County, it's still quite problematic. The reasons for our absentee problem are many and nuanced, and the fixes are so far elusive. Elizabeth Miller, a K through 12 Education reporter at OPB. Elizabeth, thanks so much for coming on and talking with us.
ELIZABETH MILLER: Thanks for having me.
MICHAEL DUNNE: You know, I enjoyed the story you did recently where you talk about, I guess we'll say slight improvement in sort of the education landscape for Oregon with regard to attendance and other things. Just tell our audience basically what your story was, was about, and what you found.
ELIZABETH MILLER: Yeah, so every you know, several points during the year the Oregon Department of Education will, I call it like a data dump, basically, if you know, how are schools doing in certain performance metrics? And so, this one was really interesting this past week, because we got new data on attendance and the percent of ninth graders on track to graduate, and these are two metrics that are really telling about how students in Oregon are doing. And so, the main takeaway is that I think it is a red flag, but things are getting better. Is the rate of students who missed 10% or more of school days, and this is chronic absenteeism, okay? And so more than a third of Oregon students are still missing 10% or more of school days. And this is very high nationally. It's high for Oregon. It was higher a couple of years ago. So it's definitely getting better. We do have more students attending school, but not as many as should be. And then the other big piece of new information is the percent of ninth graders on track to graduate, and so this tells us how many students have earned a quarter of the required credits to graduate high school, and that is the highest it's ever been. It's at 86.6% whereas last year, it was at 84.8% so it's a good sign.
MICHAEL DUNNE: The Department of Education Director says, you know, we're seeing small but encouraging progress. Is there a general idea of why things are getting better? Have programs been put into place? Is it just sort of a shakeout from Covid? What might be the reason for this incremental improvement?
ELIZABETH MILLER: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both of those things. I mean, we now the farther away we get from covid and distance learning, I think the more you're seeing students maybe get back into the habit of school and education. And so that is definitely a piece of it is I was talking to one teacher who said, you know, we're starting to see some of the things we saw before the pandemic, like we were starting to see the student behavior kind of come back down, things like that. And I think that's something that we see in this data. The other piece that you mentioned, that I think is a really good point, is like programs. A lot of high schools around the state are starting to realize like, oh man, we need to get our ninth graders in the habit of doing school, in the habit of wanting to be at school. And so there, I think that you're seeing a lot of schools try to implement either program, efforts. A lot of schools do this thing called advisory class, where a student sees the same teacher all four years of high school, like trying to just build in and create relationships and things that make students want to be at school and eventually want to graduate.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, I know that Oregon has lagged many other states for quite some time with regard to this issue of attendance and absenteeism. You know, maybe not necessarily, just from this report or data dump, as you said, but just, is there a general understanding of why we seem to be so bad at that here in Oregon?
ELIZABETH MILLER: Yeah, it's something that I think about a lot, and I've definitely wanted to dig into more. I think. I mean, Oregon has 197 school districts, and each of those school districts have their own challenge, with challenges with, with why students don't come to school. I just did a story earlier this month talking to some folks around the state principals who do have trouble with attendance and transportation. It is an issue that it crosses the urban, rural divide. Kids, if they miss the bus, if they don't have a family member that can get them to school, they don't, they don't get to school. And I think that's a really big piece of why kids don't come to school. But I think in the times after Covid, you've got, you know, sickness? Are you? Are you too sick? How do you want to go to school like that? Those things are a little harder to measure and harder to address because they're such, you know, student by student challenges. But I think that's a big piece of it, is just, what is the culture around going to school like now in Oregon? And I think I would, I would say that it's, we're still, we're kind of coming back from, oh, school is important. I need to be there. And I think that's a cultural thing in the state that, you know, one of my recent stories I asked, is Oregon doing enough as a state to get kids to go to school? And the folks I talked to, you know, said, maybe not. There are other states that do a lot more in terms of trying to make it clear to parents and families and students the importance of going to school and really driving that home. And I think in Oregon, you see a lot of schools doing what they can. You see a lot of districts doing what they can. But I do, I feel like at the state level, there might be a little bit more that Oregon can do to really drive that home and to let people know. I mean, we only get attendance data once a year in Oregon and other states. Post attendance data daily. And so, yeah, it's, it's really, it's really interesting when you see how other states decide to address this issue, because it is an issue nationally. But I think Oregon is approaching it in a way that isn't as they're not approaching it as actively as other states are.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I'm wondering, as you kind of crawled through the data here, were there any sort of indicators that things were improving evenly, or did you see like, oh, well, there's still problems in rural districts versus urban districts, anything like that. That kind of gave you an idea of which districts might be doing better than others.
ELIZABETH MILLER: Yeah, I definitely, I didn't. I haven't done as much like in district by district looking, but I know I did look through, you know, how are we doing for you know, certain student groups, kindergarten attendance is a big challenge in the state, and that's improved, but it's still quite low certain student groups, you know, students experiencing homelessness, or students experiencing poverty, those groups are still again making gains, which I think is really important to note, like every it was really cool to see. You know, for once, the graphs go up for just about every student group, yeah, but still, still low, and still, you see there's uneven the gap is this still there for specific student groups, and I think among different grades as well.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I believe you wrote about House Bill 2508 which I believe the legislature directed the Department of Education to, I don't know, update or make more efficient data collection. But you also pointed out that's going to take some time to implement, isn't it?
ELIZABETH MILLER: Yes, exactly. I think one thing that Oregon has going for it is that, you know, the problems are getting recognized, right? But just the time it takes to implement these changes and overhaul, you know, why we collect data, and what that data is used for is going to take so long and it can, I mean, as a reporter, it can be frustrating. I mean, as I'm sure, elected officials and school officials like we're all just wanting to see more, but this is a system wide change that that Oregon is starting, and it is nice to see that it's starting, but I think we're all going to have to be a little patient in terms of how long it takes to really get more information, get information more quickly? And, yeah, I mean, the thing that I keep thinking is, there are students going through the system right now, and how do you know, yes, we'll have data soon. But what can we do now? What can schools do now? What is the state doing now to really help those students along? And that's the story I'm always looking at, you know?
MICHAEL DUNNE: Elizabeth, my last question for you is this, this is all happening in the shadow of what's happening at the federal government, and certainly there's a lot of fear around what's happening with the Federal Department of Education to the point where there's real overtures about, you know, kind of shuttering that entire program and putting everything back on the states. And as someone who covers, you know, K through 12 educations, what's the concern level with the people you talk to at the state about how that all might foment down here to the state level in Oregon.
ELIZABETH MILLER: Yeah. I mean, I think there's still so many question marks with all of that, and I think it's something that has bubbled up all year at the federal level. But I think one thing, one thing I know is that the Oregon Department of Education, the staffing is it doesn't it. I don't think the staffing exists right now to do all the things that that the federal government does, it's not it. I don't think more systems will have to be built. More people will have to, you know, be the things that the federal government does right now and the Federal Education Department does right now, I would say, are so different and kind of work in connection with things that states do. And so, the fact that that federal level could be so in jeopardy. I don't know what the future looks like for Oregon, but it's, it's really, I think it's a really stressful time, and there's already a lot of things that Oregon is trying to do with its education system. And so, the fact that this thing that states have relied on for decades, is in jeopardy. It is kind of scary to think about. Sorry to end on a question mark.
MICHAEL DUNNE: We really appreciate your time trying to help answer that question mark. We've been speaking with Elizabeth Miller. She covers K through 12 education up at OPB, Elizabeth, really appreciate you coming on talking with us.
ELIZABETH MILLER: Thanks, Michael,
MICHAEL DUNNE: Now let's talk with lookout Eugene to find out how absenteeism is showing up in our local schools. Lily Sant Angelo, an education reporter with lookout Eugene, thanks so much for coming in and talking to us.
LILLY ST. ANGELO: Thanks for having me.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I enjoyed your article you wrote recently that kind of explains sort of an ongoing challenge we've seen throughout the state. But yours is titled, most Lane County schools make little progress on attendance. Just tell our listeners, just generally what your article is about.
LILLY ST. ANGELO: Yeah, the state just released the numbers for this past school year for attendance and some other data points. And basically, post pandemic, it's been a big struggle for school districts to return to the levels of attendance that they were. At before the pandemic, they have made progress, but they are struggling to make more progress.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, it's been a challenge for almost decades now, in terms of Oregon and absenteeism, I didn't know, in terms of looking at what you saw, what are some of the reasons, or maybe some of the guesses that lawmakers educational professionals make with regard to why it's pretty stubborn for Oregon?
LILLY ST. ANGELO: That's a great question. I will caveat this with the fact that I am fairly new to or Sure, and I'm still diving into this topic, and I'm excited to dive into it. Okay, think it's a complex one, but I think post pandemic, there might not be the same expectations for parents. That's something I've heard, you know, there's the main, you know, the main drivers of attendance, illness, you know, there's that. But, yeah, I and also, Oregon has, on average, less school days than other states. That's also a challenge. Okay, okay, but there are other states that have made more progress.
MICHAEL DUNNE: You know, you brought up the Covid word, and obviously that may be more than anything. In the past 50 years, or 100 years, has been such a shock to the education system, and I don't know if talking to some of the administrators, as you have, I mean, it sure seems like we're still living with some of the after effects of covid. And I didn't know if folks have talked about the fact that, you know, we may be living with some of those after effects for the next, you know, year, five years, 10 years, something like that. Just talk generally about, you know, how Covid is still sort of with us in the education space.
LILLY ST. ANGELO: Oh gosh. I think in addition to attendance, it shows up in test scores a lot. The recovery of some of those have also been really, it's been really tough. I think, you know, kids missed a lot of focus in school during the pandemic, where they were, you know, in the classroom, not distracted at home, sure on, you know, on Zoom. I'm sure the teachers did their best to teach through zoom. But, gosh, I have friends who are teachers. It was really hard. Yeah, yeah. So, yeah. I mean, there's some learning loss that happened for sure, and they're still recouping from that.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Okay, okay, we're switching gears a bit to your most recent story where you looked at sort of test scores, or just overall improvement with regard to STEM and there is a gender gap there. Isn't there? Talk about this latest story you did about STEM education?
LILLY ST. ANGELO: Yeah. So going off of the learning loss during Covid, you know, for both boys and girls, math and science scores dropped statewide and locally, but they have started to come back up. But in that process, this gap that had been closed before the pandemic between girls and boys in STEM boys doing better than girls, that has reopened and so that progress that was made to get girls more excited about STEM more confident in their ability to do math and science and maybe even go into those fields that declined. So now we're seeing red double efforts to get girls back into those spaces where they might get excited about going into STEM fields.
MICHAEL DUNNE: What might that look like? How do you get someone excited? Is it just more of an emphasis, especially, perhaps lower grades, to kind of explain, you know, how exciting and how you know, a game changer science, technology, you know, engineering and math can be. And did, are we making an emphasis on relating it towards career fields and whatnot?
LILLY ST. ANGELO: Yeah, I think for younger grades, you know, career fields may be a stretch for elementary, but I think honestly, having them see other girls be excited and be in these clubs like robotics, or girls in STEM or women in STEM, just girls who also like math or like science and like getting to hang out together. I think that's a big thing for girls. The social aspect, feeling belonging, is a huge aspect of getting girls more involved in STEM related extracurriculars, for example, okay, okay.
MICHAEL DUNNE: I would imagine, too, that resources are important, obviously, to teach STEM fields oftentimes. As it's been explained to me, sometimes labs and hands-on experience could be one of the greatest sorts of incentives to get into that. And I imagine, you know, budgets are tight, but I would imagine that that's something that a lot of educators, and both at the leadership positions as well as in the classroom, would push for.
LILLY ST. ANGELO: Yes, I think teachers really want to see that and administrators too, I think, yes, there are budget realities, budget realities, and we're going to see how that plays out in the next year or two. I mean, these CTE classes that are super cool, yeah, like, I mean, I've seen many examples throughout the districts, but those might be at risk for being cut. And that's really tough, the prospect of that for sure, absolutely, absolutely. Well, it's like everything else. Budgets always kind of drive, you know, the success rate, or at least the application rate, amongst kids and adults as well.
MICHAEL DUNNE: Lily San Angelo, who covers education for the lookout in Eugene, thank you so much for coming in and talking about the articles you've recently written.
LILLY ST. ANGELO: Thanks for having me.
MICHAEL DUNNE: That's the show for today. All episodes of Oregon On The Record are available as a podcast at KLCC.org. Tomorrow on the show, we check in with Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, who's gotten deeply involved in the rescue helicopter issue in Newport. I'm Michael Dunne, host of Oregon On The Record. Thanks for listening.
