Oregon has released its annual data on student achievement based on state test results. Many school districts in Southwest Oregon have seen some improvements, but the state is still testing below its pre-pandemic levels.
Statewide, results from last school year show that slightly more students tested proficient on the three main tests, taken by students in grades 3-8 and high school. The latest results show a 1.4 percentage point increase in math proficiency, a 0.8 percentage point increase in English language arts and a 0.6 percentage point increase in science.
In a press conference with reporters Tuesday, ODE Director Charlene Williams called the results “encouraging."
“While this year's results may not feel transformational on their own, sustained improvement year after year can fundamentally change outcomes and the trajectory for our scholars,” Williams said.
Oregon students made incremental progress in math and English, according to standardized tests results.
But the results are nowhere near the targets the state expects to reach during the 2029-2030 school year. Under a new accountability system, that’s when school districts are supposed to meet performance growth targets set by the state.
At the same time, Oregon’s policy allowing students to opt-out of these tests raises questions about whether these results are an accurate assessment of student learning.
Still, ODE officials said about half of Oregon’s school districts with strong participation saw “growth” in ELA, and 102 of them saw “growth” in math.
Meanwhile, some school districts in Southwest Oregon are doing better than others.
In Grants Pass School District 7, the percentage of students rated proficient in English language arts and math rose compared with the previous year but dipped slightly in science. Yet, the district’s proficiency rates remained above the state average in all three subjects, at 50.9%, 36.1% and 36.5%, respectively.
Susan Zottola, the district’s director of elementary education, said the results reflect years of work.
About five years ago, the district began training staff in the science of reading. It’s also in its third year of using a new reading and writing curriculum in elementary school.
“That's been a multi-year process,” she said. “It's seeing the fruits of that investment and labor being realized now in the test results.”
Zottola said improving reading and writing may have helped students on the math test, too.
“It's not just a math test. There's a misconception about that,” she said. “There is a lot of reading involved in it, and there is writing involved in it. So when you increase those skills, you're going to see a benefit also on the math test.”
The district also worked with consultants to analyze the data to pinpoint where students need more help.
“Our kids actually do relatively well on the reading portions of the test,” Zottola said. “Where their relative weakness is is writing. So we identified that last year, did a lot of work on that, but that will continue to be the focus is really strengthening our writing instruction of students.”
In Coos County, the North Bend School District also saw improvements in English language arts, but its proficiency rates in math and science fell slightly compared to the previous year.
Still, its math proficiency rate, 35.9%, is higher than it was in 2018-2019, at 32.5%.
Superintendent Tim Crider said the district’s strategic investments have paid off, including using an early literacy grant to hire a coach in spring 2025.
“We also have really focused intervention systems in literacy in our elementary schools to try to catch the students while they're young and really give them the support and instruction they need to be successful later,” he said.
Crider said he hopes the reconfiguration of the district’s elementary schools this fall will help with student performance. One school now houses kindergarten through second grade students and the other serves third through fifth grade. Previously, both schools served kindergarten through fifth grade.
“That helps us better align the resources,” Crider said. Teachers in the same grades can plan together, review student data and share practices, he said.
Crider said state tests are only one piece of the puzzle, not a comprehensive view of students’ capabilities.
He also said the inclusion of Evergreen Virtual Academy, an online charter school headquartered in North Bend, in the district's data affects its results, pulling down the district’s test participation rates.
“This is just not reflective of North Bend students that are attending our schools because the virtual charter school is enrolling students from around the state,” he said.
Still, he said the assessment data is useful information for the district.
“The goal isn't to celebrate just one test or even get discouraged by the results in some areas. Our goal here really is sustained growth over time,” he said. “The results give us evidence that a lot of our work is moving in the right direction, and it also tells us where we can continue to get better."
