High School graduation rates are key indicators of accountability for high schools and school districts in Oregon. Beginning with the 2008-09 school year, the Oregon Department of Education (ODE) implemented the cohort method of calculating graduation rates. The cohort method identifies the year the student entered high school for the first time (known as the high school entry year, or cohort year) and uses longitudinal student data to determine the student's outcome after four years. The cohort graduation rate is published annually. These reports include other outcome categories for students in the cohort, in addition to graduates, and are disaggregated by student groups such as race/ethnicity and gender. Foster Care Students has been added as a student group for the 2019-20 calculation. These students are those that were in foster care anytime during their high school years that span the cohort reporting period (e.g. 2016-17 through 2019-20 for the 4 year cohort). Because of the ongoing pandemic, Third Period Cumulative Average Daily Membership (ADM) was not collected for the 2019-20 school year, and consequently, the spring membership extract process did not take place. Due to the additional time needed to calculate accurate Cohort Graduation Rates, graduation rates used for accountability are always one year behind. [This document was produced by the Oregon Department of Education, Office of Research, Analysis, and Accountability. For "Cohort Graduation Rate: Policy and Technical Manual. 2018-19 Graduation Rates -- Based on Students First Entering High School during the 2014-15 and 2015-16 School Years," see ED600315.]