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Good morning, Northwest.

New data is out today showing attendance, progress toward graduation, teacher retention and other metrics for Oregon schools.

OPB’s Elizabeth Miller leads off this morning’s newsletter with a deep dive into the numbers.

Also today, members of the Oregon National Guard remain under federal control by order of an appeals court. And crews have removed the euthanized humpback whale from a beach north of Yachats.

Here’s your First Look at Thursday’s news.

—Bradley W. Parks

Attendance, key academic measures show slight improvement on latest Oregon school report cards

How many school days do students miss in your area? How many of the ninth graders at the local high school are passing the courses they need to stay on track? Are kids at grade level for reading and math at the neighborhood elementary school?

Those are just some of the questions addressed by data on students, schools and districts collected by the Oregon Department of Education.

Every year, the agency shares information in At-A-Glance profiles, in which anyone can see how a school fares on things like teacher retention, student mobility and performance on standardized tests.

ODE released the latest data today. (Elizabeth Miller)

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3 things to know this morning

• Oregon lawmakers are in Salem, chewing over what looming budget cuts might mean for hundreds of state programs. But state economists yesterday offered hope that at least some of those cuts can be taken off the table. (Dirk VanderHart) 
• Yesterday, Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek issued an executive order directing state agencies to speed up energy project permitting and processes to connect renewable energy to the state’s electric grid for the long haul. (Alex Baumhardt) 
• President Donald Trump can retain control of some Oregon National Guard troops currently under his command, a federal appeals court ruled yesterday afternoon. That came about an hour after Kotek had announced the Oregon Guard troops would be demobilized. (Conrad Wilson, Troy Brynelson, Michelle Wiley and Lauren Dake)

Headlines from around the Northwest

• Liesl Wendt confirmed as director of the Oregon Department of Human Services (Lauren Dake)
• Portland City Council to vote on proposal to ban rent-setting software (Alex Zielinski)
• Emergency declared as Northwest’s main oil pipeline shuts down again (John Ryan)
• Seattle Starbucks workers withhold labor, says company won’t bargain in good faith (Lauren Gallup)
• City of Washougal announces death of Councilor Molly Coston (Erik Neumann)
• Euthanized humpback whale removed from Oregon Coast beach (Courtney Sherwood) 
• Vucevic’s buzzer-beating 3 gives Bulls 122-121 win over Trail Blazers (Associated Press)

Listen in on OPB’s daily conversation

“Think Out Loud” airs at noon and 8 p.m. weekdays on OPB Radio, opb.org and the OPB News app. Today’s planned topics (subject to change):

• 2 Southwest Washington residents help design Vancouver’s new city flag 
• Oregon’s budget deficit shrank, but state lacks crucial federal data in latest economic forecast 
• Providers say more access to evidence-based treatment for substance use disorders needed

Why do sharks love Willapa Bay? Northwest scientists have some ideas

Willapa Bay in Southwest Washington is known around the world for its oysters, but every summer it also turns into a shark superhighway.

That’s when sharks, especially sevengills, migrate in from the ocean in large numbers. And Northwest researchers have been trying to figure out why.

One of those researchers, Jess Schulte from Oregon State University, said it has haunted her at night. “Why are there so many sharks here?”

To find out, they’ve caught many sharks, tagged them and tracked them, but also forced them to puke up their food to see what they’re eating.

The answer surprised them and suggests the sharks are likely contributing to healthy fisheries. (Jes Burns)

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News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2025/11/20/oregon-schools-progress-first-look/