LA GRANDE — School districts in Union County generally fared well on state assessment tests in 2022-23 compared to the rest of the state, according to results released by the Oregon Department of Education on Thursday, Sept. 21.

The results from Union County generally were in line with results across the state, which showed that most Oregon students have not regained ground in key subjects following the COVID pandemic. However, state officials said the steep declines in English language arts, math and science proficiency are beginning to level off.

The results are based on tests given last spring and are essentially identical to 2022′s outcomes, with students statewide showing small improvements in math and a slight backsliding in English. The 2022 results were the first reliable statewide test scores since spring 2019, before the pandemic shuttered school buildings throughout the state for up to 18 months.

An average of 87% of students across Oregon participated in the annual assessments, called Smarter Balanced tests, during the spring of 2023. The tests are required by state and federal law, although Oregon allows parents to opt their children out of testing. Before the pandemic, participation in the tests was closer to 95%. Students were not required to take the tests in 2020, and the state education department scaled back testing in 2021.

A student who rated at Level 3 or Level 4 in the tests was considered proficient.

In Union County, the percentage of students at all grade levels in the La Grande, Imbler and North Powder school districts who were rated proficient topped the state average in English language arts, math and science.

A total of 45.6% of the students taking the test in the La Grande School District were rated as proficient in English language arts, exceeding the state average of 43%. In math 34% of La Grande students were rated as proficient, compared to the state average of 30.6%, and in science 36.9% of students met or topped the state standard, well above the state average of 29.4%.

State reaction

The assessment results are “a window” into school performance, said the Oregon Department of Education’s Andrea Lockard, the agency’s director of assessment and student reporting. The results don’t tell the whole story, she added during a briefing session with reporters Sept. 19, but “reveal ways we can help students. … These findings shine a light on where we can learn from in order to share that learning across the state to grow the success for our students.”

Lockard and other education department officials on the Sept. 19 call declined to say what steps the state could take to help improve student performance, saying those were policy questions best directed to the interim director of the department, Charlene Williams. Williams was not on the call with reporters.

But Williams, who has been in her job for just two months, told The Oregonian, “We owe our students much better than we are delivering right now. We have to buckle up and deliver, given the resources that we have and the information that we know moves the data with kids.”

She and other state education officials also cautioned against drawing overly broad conclusions about the state’s schools and students from a single test.

Gov. Tina Kotek said in a news release that the latest results indicate a need for more state investment in after-school and summer learning programs to help students recover before they leave the public school system.

“These scores show we’re stabilizing, but we can accelerate learning with more out-of-school time investments,” she said.

Kotek said the test results indicate a need for more state investment in after-school and summer learning programs to help students recover before they leave the public school system.

“These scores show we’re stabilizing, but we can accelerate learning with more out-of-school time investments,” she said.

The Smarter Balanced assessment scores reflect students’ response to open-ended questions and performance tasks as well as multiple-choice questions. Nine other states, including Washington, use Smarter Balanced tests to measure school performance.

So many high school juniors in nearly every Oregon district opted out of state testing that 11th grade results aren’t considered reliable, making it difficult to get a sense of how well high school students have mastered the skills they need to succeed in college.

Statewide results

On average across the seven grades tested in spring 2023 in Oregon, student proficiency in English language arts declined by less than 1% and increased by less than 1% in math and science compared with the 2022 results. But average proficiency in both subjects remains about 10% below 2019 results.

Overall proficiency in English language arts, which includes reading, writing, speaking, listening and viewing, went from about 53% in 2019 to about 43% in the spring of 2023, and in math, from about 40% to 30% proficiency. The assessments are given in the spring to grades three through eight and to 11th grade students.

Of the state’s 197 school districts, 107 tested below the state average in English, and 121 tested below the state average for math proficiency.

Other Union County results

La Grande students, overall, performed better in 2022-23 than they did in 2021-22 in English language arts, math and science in terms of the percentage of students who met or exceeded state competency standards.

This is also true for students in the Imbler and North Powder school districts, who improved in all three categories. Imbler students performed especially well in English language arts, with 62% of its students scoring as proficient. Imbler also topped the 50% mark in math and science, with 52.5% rated as proficient in math and 52% doing so in science.

Imbler’s sixth grade class was particularly strong in math. State results indicated that 71.4% of Imbler’s sixth graders were rated as proficient.

North Powder’s 11th graders were among its highest achievers, with 83.3% earning a proficiency rating in English language arts, 61.1% doing so in math and 50% meeting or exceeding state standards in science.

North Powder’s all-grade totals were 49.3% rated as proficient in English language arts, 34.7% doing so in math and 33.3% doing so in science.

The Cove School District also fared well. The percentage of its students ranked as proficient in English language arts (54.8%) and math (40.8%) beat the state average. In science, the percentage of students ranked as proficient was 28.4%, less than 1% below the state average.

Union School District students performed best in English language arts, with 31.7% of its students rated as proficient. Union students also fared solidly in math, where 27.4% of its students ranked as proficient, close to the state average of 30.6%.

The Elgin School District’s 11th graders were strong performers, with 64.5% of them earning proficiency ratings in English language arts. Overall, Elgin students made significant progress in math and science compared to 2021-22. The percentage of students ranked as proficient in math was 19.3% (up from 13.8%) and 27.5% in science (up from 9.5%).

More assessment needed

During the Sept. 19 call with reporters, education department staff members emphasized the notion that recovery from the learning losses during the pandemic would be a lengthy process.

“This helps us to see the journey that we are on to respond to the impact of a global pandemic, which involves much more complexity and that takes time,” said Lockard.

Peter Rudy, an agency spokesperson, said in an email after the call that the department would prioritize investments in early learning, summer programs and after-school tutoring in the years ahead.

“The awareness, urgency and effort is in place now,” Rudy said. “We are all-in on changing learning for Oregon’s students.”

And Williams, the department’s interim director, said in a news release that there is more to be done.

“We know that staff and students work hard throughout the school year in so many areas that aren’t reflected in this assessment data,” she said. “The results from a single test do not tell the whole story of education in Oregon, however they are important indicators that require our attention and more work ahead.”

“The results from a single test do not tell the whole story of education in Oregon, however they are important indicators that require our attention and more work ahead.”

— Charlene Williams, Oregon Department of Education interim director