Philomath High’s Class of 2024 participate in graduation ceremonies in June. (File photo by Brad Fuqua/Philomath News)

Nine years ago, members of the Philomath School Board established a vision statement for the district — “Graduate every student and transition each of them into a job, training or college.”

The Oregon Department of Education’s release this week of the state’s 2023-24 graduation rates revealed encouraging numbers within the Philomath School District. Overall, the district’s four-year graduation rate came in at 87.3% — nearly six percentage points higher than the state average of 81.8%.

To take it further, if you zero in on Philomath High School, 98.0% of students in the Class of 2024 graduated on time — and that’s getting pretty close to a vision statement that at the time seemed like it could be an unachievable goal.

“I’m really pleased with what’s happening for students and the growth at the high school level and the number of students who graduate prepared for what’s next for them,” Superintendent of Schools Susan Halliday said Thursday morning a few hours after ODE made the numbers available to the public.

Statewide, graduation rates have seen only small increases since the pandemic. Meanwhile at PHS, the four-year grad rate has steadily gone up over the past three years from 89.2% in 2021-22 to 95.4% in 2022-23 to 98.0% in 2023-24.

“Philomath High School has traditionally been high and it remains high and that really shines through,” Halliday said. “And it shines through especially now that they’ve got more of a look at ninth graders who are on track and really being attentive to making sure kids are staying up with their cohort.”

To define the term, a “four-year cohort graduation rate” refers to the percentage of students from a group who entered high school together that graduate with a high school diploma within four years. Students who transfer in or out during that time period are taken into account.

Out of the district’s 134 students in the 2023-24 adjusted cohort, 117 graduated with regular or modified diplomas and eight were completers by earning a General Education Development diploma. Broken down, 98 of 100 students earned diplomas at Philomath High School, 16 of 28 students at Philomath Academy earned diplomas with eight others earning GEDs, and three of six students at Kings Valley Charter School received diplomas.

The five-year graduation rate was 86.9% districtwide and 96.6% at Philomath High. The Philomath Academy four-year graduation rate of 57.1% was expected.

“With the changes and the issuance of more GEDs over time … I’m not surprised there,” said Halliday, explaining that students who earn a GED diploma do not count as a four-year graduate. “We’re still working hard at the Philomath Academy to be able to get the graduation rate up but I am very pleased when I look at the graduation rates and then add in what the GEDs mean for our students who have completed — that speaks volumes to me as a good thing.”

The percentages at the smaller campuses such as Kings Valley Charter School and Philomath Academy can be skewed.

“You’ve got such a small number of students in the cohort that even a slight change in a percentage could only be one student,” Halliday said.

Twenty students earn Philomath Academy diplomas

In an intimate graduation ceremony Wednesday evening on the grass and under trees, 14 of the 20 Philomath Academy students that earned diplomas turned their tassels, stood proud with family…

A bright spot has been seen not only in Philomath but around the state for students involved in career and technical education programs. Students who have completed “English Learner” programs before entering high school graduated at a high rate statewide. Students in the foster care system have higher rates but are still among the lowest overall across the state. And special education students saw higher numbers.

“Our special education numbers have actually come up in terms of the number of special education students who are either four-year graduation cohorts or completers,” Halliday said about Philomath’s numbers. “The former EL (English Learners) and foster care, those numbers are low enough that it’s hard to tell. Our CTE completer numbers are very good — those students who are CTE concentrators really do a nice job.”

In addition to the four- and five-year graduates, ODE also releases data on completers, which are those students who receive an adult high school diploma, GED or extended diplomas. The Philomath School District’s completer rates were 95.0 for four years and 95.9% for five years.

For even smaller subgroups with few students, Halliday indicated that a lot of thought goes into how to help any of those kids that may be experiencing challenges.

“Those smaller groups may not indicate very many students but as a composite they may,” she said. “If we look at, for instance, multiethnic and Hispanic together … are there some other benchmarks that we can look at and say, ‘there is a pattern here that could reference a group that we really need to pay attention to?’”

Students in the Class of 2024 entered high school in the fall of 2020 during the COVID pandemic.

“This class of talented, gritty scholars are an inspiring example for other young people. Students and staff overcame all the obstacles that COVID-19 threw in their path,” ODE Director Charlene Williams said through a news release. “Their first year in high school were some of the toughest days of the pandemic. Through their hard work — along with the dedication of educators, support staff, and the commitment of lawmakers and communities to expand learning opportunities — our scholars show us what’s possible when we prioritize their needs.”

Halliday believes the school has moved past the attendance impacts that had been seen during those couple of years after the pandemic.

“At the high school level over the last two years, because we had older students who got accustomed during COVID times to maybe working, they didn’t want to give up that paycheck to be able to come back to school,” she said. “Now we’ve had, you know, three years back in a rhythm and we have more students that are continuing to be there and attend.”

Good attendance has routinely been stressed as a major factor for students to achieve academic success.

State leaders saw the latest grad numbers as encouraging.

“I’m proud of the Class of 2024 and the educators and parents who didn’t give up on students. This news is about resilience and dedication,” Gov. Tina Kotek said through the news release. “Let’s keep building on this progress and provide every Oregon student the best opportunity to thrive.”

Brad Fuqua has covered the Philomath area since 2014 as the editor of the now-closed Philomath Express and currently as publisher/editor of the Philomath News. He has worked as a professional journalist since 1988 at daily and weekly newspapers in Nebraska, Kansas, North Dakota, Arizona, Montana and Oregon.