Enrollment at Oregon’s public schools tumbled this fall, led in large part by the number of families opting to have their 5-year-olds skip virtual kindergarten in the midst of the pandemic.
White families were significantly more prone to do so than families in other racial and ethnic groups, an analysis by The Oregonian/OregonLive found.
The state’s public schools saw a 4 percent drop in enrollment overall, but a 16 percent decrease in the number of kindergartners. Among white students, Oregon schools saw a steeper kindergarten drop: 18 percent.
Latino kindergarten enrollment dropped by 9 percent from last year and Black enrollment was down 7 percent. There were also 5 percent fewer Asian students in kindergarten this year.
Oregon Department of Education officials attribute the drops to the statewide pivot to virtual learning. Officials believe next year’s numbers will rebound when in-person learning resumes, the agency said in a release.
Lillian Duran, the associate dean for academic affairs at the University of Oregon’s College of Education, said economic factors likely play a role in the gulf between the drop in white enrollment and the decrease in percentage of Black and Latino children entering kindergarten this year.
While some parents had the means to enroll their children in private schools, some of which have offered some form of in-person instruction for months, and others could afford to keep their children in costly preschools for another year, others felt they had fewer options.
“It could be that some families just don’t have other offerings for their child,” Duran told The Oregonian/OregonLive.
Oregon Department of Education enrollment data, unlike the figures the agency releases for graduation rates and test scores, does not include statistics on how many students come from homes that qualify for financial assistance from the state. Spokesperson Marc Siegel said the agency collected socioeconomic data on this year’s students but hasn’t updated its district totals.
“It’s not data we consider final and accurate,” he said.
Because Oregon is one of 13 states where kindergarten isn’t compulsory, enrollment numbers present a litany of questions over what classrooms will look like when districts begin offering in-person instruction.
The state may see more split-age kindergarten classes, with a number of 6-year-olds joining children who turned 5 just in time to enroll. First-grade teachers may also see a wave of children who have never set foot in a physical classroom before.
Duran said her worry is potentially separate and unequal circumstances.
“More concerning, I think, is the resulting segregation by age and background of our classrooms,” Duran said.
While statewide figures show white kindergarten enrollment dropped about twice as much as that of either Black or Latino students, those gulfs were wider among some Portland-area districts.
There were 32 percent fewer white children enrolled in kindergarten in the Tigard-Tualatin district’s schools this year, compared to 11 percent fewer Latinos. Districtwide, kindergarten enrollment dropped 23 percent.
The David Douglas district saw a decrease of 8 percent among Black kindergartners versus 15 percent for Latinos and 30 percent for white students. Overall, the district saw a 19 percent decline in the number of kindergartners in fall 2020 versus the prior year.
In Portland Public Schools, the state’s largest district, those gaps were much narrower, largely because so many children of color were held back from kindergarten along with white 5-year-olds.
The district reported a 16 percent drop in kindergarten enrollment this year. The decrease was about 21 percent among white children compared to 16 percent for Black children and 17 percent for Latinos. The district enrolled 5 percent fewer Asian students this year.
Chief of Systems Performance Russell Brown told The Oregonian/OregonLive he expects those dips were a result of parents opting to have their children sit out a year of virtual school in hopes that this fall marks a return to classrooms.
Predicting enrollment
The district works with Portland State University to track population shifts within its boundaries and project enrollment from year to year. Brown said that based on preliminary information, he’s “planning as if our students will return post-pandemic.”
As educators plan for the next wave of students to enter classrooms, Duran, the University of Oregon researcher, said she hopes districts provide teachers with ample training in how to incorporate small lessons at home to keep students engaged as they make up for a year’s worth of practice lost to virtual learning.
“I think kindergarten teachers are going to need more professional development in how to embed instructional activities, learning opportunities in the home,” she said. “Think of eating, dressing, other caretaking routines. Make sure there’s a bridge from home to school.”
Duran said she’s seen a disconnect between the level of engagement preschools have with families and how often elementary schools cater to their needs. As districts plot reopening plans, she said input from families of color, in particular, will be essential.
“If you want to close a trust gap, number one, is starting to listen to families and validate their experiences,” she said. “Educators and administrators need to actually act on their input rather than gathering it just to check a box.”
The Oregon Department of Education requires districts to engage with communities before making reopening decisions. The agency also mandates that districts offer families the option of remaining in virtual learning for the remainder of the academic year.
And even though the majority of Oregon’s public schools saw a decrease in enrollment, some saw the opposite.
Coos County’s North Bend district had 28 percent more students than last year, largely a function of the 50 percent spike in enrollment at Oregon Virtual Academy. Kindergarten enrollment more than tripled there, from 59 last year to 205 in the fall.
“You can see why if a family has other options, they might put their child in another experience this year,” Duran said.
The Santiam County district, which holds the charter for Oregon Charter Academy, similarly saw an 18 percent increase overall as the virtual school’s enrollment jumped 22 percent. Until last year, the school was called Oregon Connections Academy.
And in Scio, where the local district charters Willamette Connections Academy, total enrollment surged 229 percent as participation in the virtual program went from 81 last year to 2,159 this year.
The increases in the number of families shifting to public online charters doesn’t begin to fully account for the enrollment decline across brick-and-mortar schools.
