SALEM — The 37,700 students that made up Oregon’s 2023 high school graduating class posted the second-highest four-year graduation rate — 81.3% — ever recorded by the state.
The Oregon Department of Education, which presented the statewide graduation rates Tuesday, Jan. 23, stressed that the Class of 2023 shouldered the full brunt of the COVID-19 pandemic as those students were starting high school when the pandemic began.
Peter Rudy, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Education, said the 81.3% graduation rate is especially noteworthy given all the challenges the students faced from the onset of their freshman year.