Oregon Smarter Balanced test scores remain flat

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) – Oregon test scores indicate that elementary students have rebounded from last year’s dip in reading and writing skills, but academic achievement remains mostly low across the state.

The Oregonian/OregonLive reports that the percentages of students demonstrating mastery in math this year are the lowest in the four years that Oregon’s students have taken the nationally benchmarked Smarter Balanced tests.

Mastery in reading and writing has barely budged in four years, staying below 60 percent in elementary and middle schools.

Results in the state’s middle and high schools have largely remained hard to pin down, as numerous families have allowed their children to skip the tests. About 15 percent of 11th-graders skipped the tests this year.

Information from: The Oregonian/OregonLive, http://www.oregonlive.com

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Oregon Dept. of Education news release:

Oregon school districts have received the results of the Smarter Balanced assessments taken by students in grades 3-8, plus high school. Overall scores remain largely flat as compared to previous years, although the results show gains in English Language Arts over the previous year, the Oregon Department of Education said Thursday.

“Annual tests give us a snapshot of student learning, but there is more we should be doing to give teachers the tools to target complex thinking in students,” ODE Director Colt Gill said. “Shorter, more focused testing throughout the year can give teachers insights into activities than can help students think and work out problems. That is how we get better results.”

Every grade level increased ELA scores over the 2016-17 results. One highlight of the test results is the performance of American Indian/Alaska native students, the only student group scoring higher than two years ago in both ELA and Math.