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Tests Results for Oregon Public Schools

The Oregon Statewide Assessment Test (OSA)

The purposes of the Oregon Statewide Assessment Program are:

  • To provide information on individual student achievement on performance standards set by the State Board of Education for the Certificate of Initial Mastery and the benchmark grades leading to it.

  • To provide information for policy decisions by the legislature, the governor, the State Board of Education, and local school districts.

  • To support instructional program improvement efforts.

  • To inform the public about student achievement in Oregon schools.

The Oregon Statewide Assessment is different from national, norm-referenced tests used in many districts and states. The Oregon Statewide Assessment is a criterion-referenced assessment based on the Oregon Content Standards. As a result, the types of scores produced from the Oregon Statewide Assessment are somewhat different from those produced by national, norm-referenced tests.

Under Oregon’s assessment system, reading and math tests are given at grades 3-8 and at grade 10; writing tests are given at grades 4, 7, and 10. In 2007, the state delivered over 1.4 million tests through ODE’s computer-based testing system, OAKS Online (OAKS = Oregon Assessment of Knowledge & Skills). The state-of-the-art testing system is unique among the 50 states and has several advantages over other online assessments and old-style pencil-and-paper testing. Students take tests online, and each test is individually adapted to the student taking the test. Students have up to three opportunities to take required tests in reading and mathematics. A major benefit of OAKS Online is that students and teachers receive immediate, detailed feedback and reports when tests are completed.

The assessment is made up of multiple-choice and performance assessments in the areas of reading and literature, writing, mathematics, and science and is given several times throughout the school year. Oregon used to test students at grades 3, 5, 8, and 10; last year, the federal No Child Left Behind law required Oregon to test students in grades 4, 5, 6, and 7. As a result, Oregon now tests students at grades 3-8 and tests high school students at grade 10, providing schools and teachers with more information and better data on individual student achievement and growth.

For reading/literature and mathematics, scores produced from the Oregon Statewide Assessment are based on an achievement scale widely used in the Northwest. The scale, with numbers ranging from about 150 to 300, is similar to other scales such as the Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) scale or other "growth" scales. Each point on the scale is at an equal distance from the previous point on the scale, so changes up or down can be charted and viewed as comparable from year to year.

Writing and mathematics problem solving rely on a model, which trains expert "judges," typically classroom teachers, to match student work to criteria for performance on a predetermined scale. Writing is analyzed by two different raters on six elements or traits of good writing, and each trait is rated on a scale of 1 - 6 (low to high). Raters of mathematics problem solving assessments look at four elements or dimensions of good problem solving. Each dimension is rated on a scale of 1 - 6; in addition, the work is analyzed for the correctness of the solution. 

Starting in 2007, under the No Child Left Behind law, Oregon had to check with a panel of teachers, professors, principals, business leaders and others to make sure that the tests were difficult enough for each grade. In 2007, those groups decided Oregon's math and reading tests were too easy in elementary and early middle school, so they raised the passing score on state tests in grades three through seven.

Where to Find Test Results

The Oregon Department of Education's Web site has a "Accountability/Reporting" table where you can find test results for any Oregon school district as well as individual schools within a district.  You can obtain results by school year, sub-group (gender, ethnicity, etc.), and by subject (reading & literature, mathematics, science, etc.).  Should you desire, you can also download the data (Microsoft Excel) into a spreadsheet. 

Statewide 2008 OSA Results

On September 2, State Schools Superintendent Susan Castillo announced the results of Oregon student performance on the 2007-08 assessment tests in reading, mathematics, writing and science.

Elementary students did well in both reading and math, but middle and high school students showed no improvement in those subjects. In writing, elementary student scores declined compared to last year, but middle and high school students improved. Science tests were given for the first time in 2007-08, and comparison data will be available next year.

The greatest cause for concern: Only half of high school sophomores could do math at grade level. Those students, now juniors, are in the first class that will have to pass three years of math, not just two, to graduate. And this fall's high school freshmen, Oregon's class of 2012, will have to pass the state math test or show equivalent math skills to earn a diploma.

Oregon schools Superintendent Susan Castillo sounded an alarm:

“As we continue to implement Oregon’s new high school diploma requirements, students at all grades must make sustained improvement in reading, math, writing, and science in order to be on track to graduate,” Castillo said. “We do an excellent job for most of the students in our schools, but I am concerned about the areas where we continue to fall short, especially in our middle and high schools. The result is that some students may not be prepared to meet the challenges of the new diploma.”

The latest results reflect a long-standing trend of high achievement in elementary schools and mediocre scores in high school. That suggests Oregon's elementary schools are highly effective but its middle and high schools squander the gains.

The percentage of students meeting/exceeding state standards on the 2007-08 state assessment tests is shown below:
 

Reading (multiple-choice)

  • 3rd Grade 84%

  • 4th Grade 83%

  • 5th Grade 75%

  • 6th Grade 73%

  • 7th Grade 74%

  • 8th Grade 65%

  • 10th Grade 65%

Writing (writing sample)

  • 4th Grade 43%

  • 7th Grade 50%

Math (multiple-choice)

  • 3rd Grade 77%

  • 4th Grade 77%

  • 5th Grade 77%

  • 6th Grade 70%

  • 7th Grade 74%

  • 8th Grade 69%

  • 10th Grade 52%

Science (multiple-choice)

  • 5th Grade 75%

  • 8th Grade 69%

  • 10th Grade 57%

To find the test results by school district and school visit Oregon Department of Education OSA test results.

Statewide 2007 OSA Results
 

In late September 2007, the Oregon Department of Education released the 2007 test results for reading and math. Achievement is surging in Oregon's middle schools, but high school performance remains stagnant, new state test scores show. Students in grades six, seven and eight posted improved scores on reading, writing and math tests this year, including dramatic gains in reading.

For 10th graders, passing rates remained stalled at the same level for a third straight year. Just more than half of Oregon sophomores wrote or did math at grade level, results showed.

State Education Department officials said it's possible that the drop in math scores - never before seen in elementary results - occurred because a glitch forced schools to switch unexpectedly from computerized testing to paper-and-pencil tests. The computerized tests could be scheduled any day, as late as the end of May, and students who failed the test could be tutored and then retake the test. Online tests also feel familiar to today's computer-savvy kids, some of whom had never had to fill in bubbles on an answer sheet. When the state got in a dispute with its online vendor in March, students were forced to take paper-and-pencil tests during a single week in April. No retests were allowed.

This year, under the No Child Left Behind law, Oregon had to check with a panel of teachers, professors, principals, business leaders and others to make sure that the tests were difficult enough, but not too difficult, in each grade. Those groups decided Oregon's math and reading tests were too easy in elementary and early middle school, so they raised the passing score on state tests in grades three through seven.

They also found the high school reading and math tests and the eighth grade math test were too hard, so they lowered the score a student must earn to pass those exams.

To allow for accurate comparisons in student achievement, state officials recalculated results from 2006 to show how students would have scored if the 2007 score cutoffs had been in place.

The percentage of students meeting/exceeding Oregon state standards (three year trend) is shown below:
 

Reading (multiple-choice)

  • 3rd Grade 87%

  • 4th Grade 87%

  • 5th Grade 83%

  • 6th Grade 80%

  • 7th Grade 73%

  • 8th Grade 66%

  • 10th Grade 55%

Writing (essay)

  • 4th Grade 42%

  • 7th Grade 45%

  • 10th Grade 55%

Math (multiple-choice)

  • 3rd Grade 86%

  • 4th Grade 88%

  • 5th Grade 85%

  • 6th Grade 77%

  • 7th Grade 71%

  • 8th Grade 66%

  • 10th Grade 45%

Science (multiple-choice)

  • 5th Grade 79%

  • 8th Grade 68%

  • 10th Grade 62%

To find the test results by school district and school visit Oregon Department of Education OSA test results.



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Susan Marthens
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(503) 497-2984
Fax (503) 220-1131

 

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