Data shows students in Eugene, statewide struggle to regain proficiency after COVID-19

New testing data shows the COVID-19 pandemic may have a lasting impact on students' academic performances, with the latest scores showing a lack of improvement.

The Oregon Department of Education Thursday released its annual statewideassessment results. They show that, despite an influx of federal funding, academic achievement scores have not improved since 2021-22, when the first round of testing after the pandemic showed huge drops.

Most rates don't have a difference of more than 1 percentage point. Still, according to these test results, less than half of students statewide are reaching key benchmarks in English and less than a third are on track in math and science.

This new data is from the 2022-23 school year and found that 43% of Oregon students tested were considered proficient in English language arts, 30.6% were considered proficient in math and 29.4% were considered proficient in science.

Compared to 2021-22, this is a 0.6 percentage point drop in English, a 0.2 percentage point increase in math and a 0.1 percentage point increase in science.

Looking at pre-pandemic results from 2019, 53.4% of students tested proficient in English, 39.4% in math and 36.9% in science. That means an additional 10% of students now fail to meet proficiency standards in English and math.

ODE stressed that numbers may still be skewed due to the lower participation rate in 2023 — in the mid to high 80s compared to the federally required 95%. However, for the majority of grade levels, apart from high school, between 87-94% of students participated in each subject assessment. All around, participation improved from the prior year.

In an interview Wednesday, Charlene Williams, interim director of ODE, called the results "generally positive." Williams was appointed interim director in June by Gov. Tina Kotek and took over in July.

"We do see that these results are stabilizing," she said. "I think we have some positive trends that are indicating we're pointing in the right direction."

Williams said legislation passed last year, along with a focus on early literacy, should help students improve.

The 2023 Oregon Legislature passed a record $10.2 billion in funding for public schools for the next two years, as well as a host of education bills focused on early literacy, special education and support for teachers.

Williams said ODE is encouraging districts to apply for resources, such as a newly developed early literacy framework, and she's optimistic that most will.

"In some of our legislation we mention to schools, of course, high-quality curriculum and instruction, extending our day through our after-school programming, summer programming," she said. "Our governor is very committed to those efforts to make sure our students across the board have as much access to learning as possible."

Oregon statewide results and what they mean

Statewide tests in English language arts, math and science are given annually in Oregon. The English and math assessments are given to students in grades 3-8 and 11, and science assessments are given in grades 5, 8 and 11.

A Level 3 or 4 result means the student has met or exceeded state standards and is considered on track to graduate ready for college and a career. Students receiving Level 1 or 2 scores are identified to receive additional support, although students at Level 2 are considered ready to enter the workforce.

By grade level statewide, numbers stayed fairly even between 2022 and 2023, with notable improvements of 1.5 percentage point in fourth grade math proficiency and 1.2 percentage point in 11th grade science.

The largest differences between 2022 and 2023 were the drops in middle school English.

Eighth grade English proficiency dropped from 46.3% to 43.8%, and seventh grade English proficiency dropped from 43.9% to 41.9%.

When asked, ODE did not have a clear answer for why this could be, but said they are keeping an eye on literacy and looking to districts for possible causes and solutions.

"We can, as we partner with our districts, get more and more precise in each context," Williams said. "What’s going on with seventh graders, what’s going on with eighth graders? Is that a curriculum thing? Is that a post-pandemic kind of trend that we notice with a cohort of students? (We're) really trying to unpack that information."

While unchanged from 2022 to 2023, the lowest overall proficiency rate was in 11th grade math, with only 20.4% of students considered proficient. However, 11th grade also had the lowest participation rates with only 67.6% in math assessments, meaning the results are most likely not to fully reflect the student body.

Lane County results

Districts in Lane County saw mixed results.

Eugene School District 4J's results remained steady, with 50% proficiency in English, a 0.4 percentage point increase from 2022, and 37.7% proficiency in math, a 0.1 percentage point increase from 2022. In science, 4J saw its greatest improvement, scoring almost 2 percentage points higher with 38.7%.

4J continues to have high results overall, remaining above state averages.

"These metrics only provide a small piece of the puzzle," 4J Superintendent Andy Dey said during a school board meeting Wednesday night. "That said, I'm optimistic we'll see continued improvements resulting from the hard work of our teachers, newly adopted curricula and our targeted investments in support of learning and wellbeing."

Bethel School District had a decrease in English proficiency, dropping from a 35.5% proficiency rate in 2022 to 33.6% in 2023. It had a small drop in math as well, going from 21.7% to 21.3%. However, Bethel improved its science proficiency rate, going from 22.1% in 2022 to 24.1% in 2023.

Springfield Public Schools made the most gains out of the three metro districts. Springfield went from an English proficiency rate of 34.9% in 2022 to 36.6% in 2023. Its students also made improvements in math and science, going from 23.4% to 23.9% proficiency in math and jumping from 22.9% to 26.1% proficiency in science.

"The statewide assessment results show our education systems continue to stabilize following the global pandemic," SPS Assistant Superintendent David Collins stated in an email. "We know that continued investment in educational programming, mental health, accelerating learning with summer school and after-school programs, early literacy, and high school success should help us build on these gains."

Outside of the metro districts, the Lane County districts that scored highest overall in proficiency were McKenzie School District with 50.0% in English and 34.7% in math, and Creswell School District with 49.7% in English and 32.6% in math.

Numbers by grade level and district

For the following data tables, an asterisk (*) symbol means there were fewer than 10 student participants and results were hidden to protect student privacy. A dash symbol (-) means there were no student participants.

Eugene School District 4J

Springfield Public Schools

Bethel School District

Blachly School District

Creswell School District

Crow-Applegate-Lorane School District

Fern Ridge School District

Junction City School District

Lowell School District

Mapleton School District

Marcola School District

McKenzie School District

Oakridge School District

Pleasant Hill School District

Siuslaw School District

South Lane School District

The student assessment data is available at oregon.gov/ode/educator-resources/assessment.

Miranda Cyr reports on education for The Register-Guard. You can contact her at mcyr@registerguard.com or find her on Twitter @mirandabcyr.

Tracy Loew covers education and the environment at the Statesman Journal. Send comments, questions and tips: tloew@statesmanjournal.com or 503-399-6779. Follow her on Twitter at @Tracy_Loew

This article originally appeared on Register-Guard: Oregon students struggle to regain proficiency after pandemic