During the 2024-25 school year, 33.5% of Oregon students were chronically absent, meaning they missed more than 10% of all school days.

In the Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District, a small district that covers a rural area southwest of Eugene, that number was 15.2%, giving it the 15th lowest rate of chronic absenteeism in the state.

Students in the district were not always such regular attenders.

In the 2021-22 school year, 44% of all Crow-Applegate-Lorane students were chronically absent, placing it in the bottom 50 districts statewide for regular attendance.

The district’s superintendent, who started in her role at the height of its attendance crisis, said a big part of what has caused improvement was lowering class sizes so staff and teachers could bond with their students.

“Those

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