Portland schools report higher graduation rates despite pandemic January 21 2021 Oregon Department of Education says state's lax guidelines in 2020 had little impact on spiked rates. Oregon education officials are celebrating an increase in the overall on-time graduation rate during the 2019-20 academic year. Across Oregon, the graduation rate climbed from 80% in 2019 to 83% in 2020. In Portland Public Schools, the graduation rate jumped to nearly 84%, up from 80.5% the year prior, making it the highest rate for PPS in the last decade. Within Oregon's largest district, nearly all student groups showed a jump in on-time graduation rates. Rates for Latino students jumped by four percentage points, while Black students saw a five-percentage-point increase in on-time graduations.