PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon teens who spent time in foster care were less than half as likely as their classmates in the class of 2017 to graduate on time.
The Oregonian/OregonLive was the first in the state to report on Tuesday the graduation rate for teenagers who spent any amount of their high school years in foster care was 35 percent, according to figures reported by the Oregon Department of Education late last year.
The state was able to identify 501 high school students who spent time in foster care, out of a 2017 class of 46,155 total students. That means just over 1 percent spent time in foster care.
Oregon test results showed 31 percent of children in foster care during the 2017-2018 school year scored proficient in reading and writing and just 18 percent scored as proficient in math. That compared with all-student proficiency rates of 55 percent in reading and writing and 41 percent in math.
Under a new federal law that took effect last year, states are supposed to report foster children's graduation rates along with school test results on annual school performance reports. But according to the national education news site The 74, Oregon is one of just 16 states that have made the information available to the public. The news site reported that although the Obama administration required states to publish that data by the end of 2018, the Republican-controlled Congress voted to eliminate the deadline to begin reporting the information.
Of the states that have made foster care graduation rates available to the public, Oregon had the worst rate. New Hampshire was the next lowest, at 44 percent, followed by Washington at 46 percent, according to The 74 .
KGW Investigates: Classrooms in Crisis
