Students in some Malheur County schools are falling further behind while those in Adrian and Vale continue to improve.
The reading, writing and math scores in some of the county’s biggest districts highlight steep learning declines from pandemic-related disruptions as education officials mull strategies to help students catch up.
However, some, including Vale’s 8th and 11th graders, tested third and fifth highest, respectively, in the state.
Students took the annual tests, called Smarter Balance tests, during the spring of 2024.
Students take tests in English and math in grades 3 to 8 and 11, while the science assessments are taken by those in grades 5, 8 and 11, according to the state Oregon Department of Education.
The Smarter Balance test is used at the end of the school year to evaluate students, which is beneficial in looking at education levels and school performance, according to Mark Redmond, Malheur County Education Service District superintendent.
“State test results matter,” the state Department of Education notes in documents related to the test results. “They are the only indicator we have that we can use to reliably understand how well Oregon’s K-12 education system is serving all of our students academically in three critical subjects.”
Those subjects are English, math and science.
The state education agency notes that while the tests reliably measure learning, they do not describe the “full context” of what a school provides for a student socially and academically.
Redmond said the county’s scores mirror what educators see across the state, that for the most part, reading and writing scores remain stagnant “across the board.”
He said the county’s scores continue be depressed because of disruptions in schooling during the pandemic.
“For some of us that wanted schools to stay open and have kids in person, it’s frustrating,” he said.
During a Wednesday, Oct. 2,media briefing, Dan Farley, assistant superintendent with the state Department of Education, said the state agency remains “incredibly concerned” about the number of students that are not proficient in reading, math and science.
“This is not where we want to be by any stretch of the imagination,” Charlene Williams, director of the state agency, said.
Here is a district-by-district look at the results.
Ontario
In Ontario, the largest school district in the county with 2,212 students last year, only about three out of 10 can read at their grade level, based on the state’s test scores. In 2023, 34.1% of students in each grade scored proficient. This year, students improved to 35.5%. Ontario’s students are more than 10% below the district’s pre-pandemic levels when 45.3% of students tested at grade level in 2019.
Taryn Smith, the district’s public relations coordinator, emailed comments on the latest scores and the district’s plans, which she attributed to Erin O’Hara-Rines, Ontario’s professional development and evaluation coordinator.
O’Hara-Rines said one of the district’s concern is that achievements in English Language Arts “remain uneven” across the district. Ontario’s reading scores were more than 7% below the state’s 42.5% proficiency this year.
Hispanic students of all grades tested 32.5% in 2024, up 2.7% from 2023 and about 6% above the state average.
O’Hara-Rines said that although Hispanic students made gains, along with students who are learning English, “literacy is essential for successful citizenship.”
O’Hara-Rines said the “numbers warrant careful analysis” so that the district can “adjust course when necessary.
An abundance of research shows that reading is a foundational skill vital to student success in every subject. Researchers have concluded that students who can’t understand written material will struggle to learn math, science, or other topics.
Researchers found that students who cannot read proficiently by the end of third grade are likely to face dismal outcomes later in life, including dropping out of school, emotional and social issues, and a greater chance of going to jail or prison.
About three out of 10 third-graders can read proficiently in Ontario.
In 2024, 27.3% of students tested at grade level, down 1.4% from 2023. Grade 3 test scores are still above the district’s 2022 score of 24.5%, but down from their pre-pandemic levels in 2019, when 31.2% were reading at grade level.
State officials said that students who show proficiency by their junior of high school are considered on track for a career or continued schooling.
Less than half of the district’s 11th-graders are reading proficiently. In 2024, 41.1% of juniors tested at grade level, a nearly 14% drop from the 2023 score of 55% and 4% below the state average. Meantime, 42.3% of Hispanic students are reading proficiently. That is more than 10% above the state average.
In math, about one in five students were proficient in math, a 2.8% drop from 2023. Eighth-grade math scores improved to 20.1%, up from 8.8% in 2023 and down from 26.2% proficiency in 2022. Eighth graders in Ontario continue to struggle to regain ground from where they were before the pandemic when 42.1% tested at grade level.
O’Hara-Rines noted the growth in math over the previous year was an encouraging number for the district. She said students in various groups, including those with disabilities, English learners, and white and multiracial students.
In science, Ontario students performed worse in 2024. Results show 15.5% at grade level, down from 21.6% in 2023 and below pre-pandemic levels when students tested at 26.2%.
O’Hara-Rines said it’s important for families and the community to “best understand” the test scores by placing them in the “proper context.” She said people should review subgroups and other data sets that inform the overall summary of the results. She said test score data can become “diluted” when pooled into summaries.
People should also ask about “individual stories” behind the state test results.
“A student who does not meet a benchmark may have actually grown further than one who has,” she said. “These stories are important because they remind us that students and staff are more than numbers.”
O’Hara-Rines said the district is taking action on multiple fronts to address learning loss, this includes taping into state resources that allowed Ontario to hire a literacy specialist who can work with educators to support “focused literacy instruction.”
O’Hara-Rines said the district gave educators a raise and kicked off a mentoring program to boost teacher retention to “foster stability and experience.”
She said it will take time for some students to catch up from the learning losses during the pandemic.
“Many of the families we serve were disproportionately impacted in negative ways that continue to ripple on because of their original circumstances of poverty,” O’Hara-Rines said.
Nyssa
In Nyssa, students at all levels tested 39.9% for reading in 2024, down from 40.2% in 2023. Nyssa’s reading scores were still slightly below pre-pandemic levels in 2019 when 43.4% of students read at grade level. The district’s reading scores are below the state’s average by about 2%.
Hispanic students in all grades tested at 27.7%. This was down from their 2023 scores of 28.6% but above the state average of 25.8%.
Reading scores among Nyssa’s Hispanic students are still below pre-pandemic levels, where students tested at 33.5% proficiency.
In Nyssa, third-grade reading levels dropped by 9% to 39.6%. The scores remain slightly above the state’s 39% average.
In math, 30.6% of students tested at grade level, down from 30.7% in 2023 and up from 28.4% in 2022.
Nyssa students saw a slight drop in science, testing at 29.2%, down from 30.5% in 2023.
Ryan Hawkins, superintendent in Nyssa, and Pat Morinaka, school board chair, did not respond to requests for comments on the results or their plans.
Vale
Vale reading scores across all grades dropped. In 2024 49.3% of students were reading at grade level, down from 50.3% in 2023.
Hispanic students tested at 36.5% proficiency, down from 36.9% in 2023 but more than 10% above the state average.
Meanwhile, Vale third graders improved to 36.4% in 2024, up from 28.8% in 2023. Third graders scored 60.7% proficiency in 2019.
Math students posted slightly increased results, from 38.8% in 2023 to 40.3%. The scores were above the school’s 35.8% results in 2019.
Vale juniors tested the fifth, seventh and eight highest in math, science and English, respectively.
Meantime, eighth grade students tested fifth and sixth highest in Oregon overall in science and English, respectively.
Superintendent Alisha McBride that said in 2019, administrators recognized that math scores were below the state average. The improved results flow from training, a revised curriculum and resources to help teachers in the classroom, she said.
McBride said third graders saw an improvement of 7.6% and fifth grade saw a more than 20% gain in reading and writing.
Meantime, she said, Vale administrators are evaluating reading and writing outcomes among elementary school levels.
Adrian
Adrian saw a jump in reading scores with 74.6% of students testing at grade level, up from 65.4% in 2023.
The district’s reading scores are more than 40% above the state average. Third graders tested at 81.3%, up from 66.7% in 2023 and 50% in 2019.
In Adrian, 61.3% of Hispanic students were reading proficiently in 2024.
Math scores in Adrian jumped to 59.7%, up from 46.4% and well above the state average of 31%. In science, students at all levels improved to 57.4% proficient, up 9% over the year before.
Superintendent Nick Ketterling said that Adrian, by far the county’s highest-performing school,has shown progress each year and a “high level of proficiency.”
Despite the district’s success, there is still room to improve, according to Ketterling.
“Whether we are at 100% or 0% proficient we always have opportunities that we can continue to grow from an instructional standpoint as well as a student knowledge standpoint,” Ketterling said.
He said the community and parents should be proud of the district’s performance. He noted that staff prepare and educate students “at a very high level that is shown by their performance and pride” in the district.
Redmond said that the high-performing districts with gains each year are those that execute well-prepared plans they stick to.
“If you develop a plan and execute it for a period of time and stay consistent, it will show good results,” he said.
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