Students in Salem, statewide struggle to regain proficiency after COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic may have a lasting impact on Oregon students’ academic performance, new testing data shows.

The Oregon Department of Education released its annual statewide assessment results Thursday. 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.

According to the latest data, which reflects the 2022-23 school year, 43% of Oregon students tested were proficient in English language arts. About 31% were considered proficient in math and 29% in science.

The 2022-23 results showed 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 from the 2021-22 results.

In the 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 officials 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 2022 to 2023.

In an interview Wednesday, Dr. Charlene Williams, interim superintendent of the Oregon Department of Education, called the results “generally positive.”

“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 renewed 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.

“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. Students receiving Level 1 or 2 scores are theoretically identified to receive additional support.

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

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

Additionally, while unchanged from 2022 to 2023, the lowest overall proficiency rate was in 11th grade math, with only 20.4% of students considered proficient.

Salem-Keizer district assessments

In Salem-Keizer Public Schools, the percentage of students proficient in English, math and science declined from 2021-22 and remained lower than the state average.

“The 2022-23 student outcomes and the work we will do to improve them have our full attention,” Salem-Keizer Public Schools Superintendent Andrea Castañeda said.

Across all grades, 32% of Salem-Keizer students were proficient in English, down from 33.5% in 2021-22. That compares with 43% of students proficient statewide.

In Salem-Keizer, 20.2% of students were proficient in math, down from 21% the previous year. That compares with 30.6% proficient statewide.

And across all grades, 22.1% of Salem-Keizer students were proficient in science, down from 24.1% the previous year. That compares with 29.4% proficient statewide.  

Back in 2018-19, before the pandemic, Salem-Keizer’s results also were below state averages and declining.

However, the district continues to have participation rates higher than the state average. In Salem-Keizer last year, 95.5% of students took the English assessment, 94.8% took the math assessment, and 90.6% took the science assessment.

That compares with statewide participation rates of 88.8% in English, 87.7% in math and 84.3% in science.

“I don’t think we can claim these results are success this year,” Castañeda said. “But the board has set us on a trajectory that makes it clear what success looks like. And there’s a lot of momentum and a foundation that we can use to move towards it.”

Earlier this month, the Salem-Keizer school board adopted a new results policy requiring improvements in the following metrics:

• Attendance.
• Third graders reading at grade-level English.
• Ninth graders on track to graduate high school.
• Four-year cohort graduation rate.
• Student sense of belonging for grades 3-5.
• Student sense of belonging for grades 6-12.

Castañeda noted that although overall results this year don’t represent success, district officials are proud of the work they’ve done with English language learners.

“We serve almost 30% more English language learners than the next largest district,” she said. “We serve a sizable percentage of all statewide English language learners and we are outperforming the state in virtually every grade level.”

Other Mid-Valley districts

In the Silver Falls School District in Silverton, the percentage of students proficient in English fell while the percentage proficient in math and science rose. The district performed better than Salem-Keizer in all three subjects.

In Silverton, 54.5% of tested students were proficient in English, 38.3 were proficient in math and 38.1% were proficient in science.

In the Woodburn School District, the percentage of students proficient in all subjects fell last year.

In Woodburn, 20.2% of tested students were proficient in English, 8.7% were proficient in math and 12.5% were proficient in science.

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

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