Small Schools gain in Reading, Writing and Math

Every year at this time the Oregon Department of Education releases the results of state standardized tests. They are referred to as OAKS (Oregon Assessment of Knowledge and Skills). They are a closely watched indicator of student achievement. In high schools, these math, reading and writing tests are administered to 10th graders.

The newest report released Monday captured results for the ’08-’09 school year. Looking at four-year trends, results for Oregon high schools were disappointingly flat. In math, the percent of students with passing OAKS scores declined from 56% to 54%. Reading results improved slightly, increasing from 65% to 66%. Writing dropped half a percentage point to 55%. The front page story in The Oregonian reflected this flat trend in high schools and similarly in elementary schools. The good news for Oregon is in middle schools, where student scores are “hitting historic highs.”

Despite disappointing statewide trends in high schools, there’s reason to be encouraged by the results for students at schools in the Oregon Small Schools Initiative. For example, the Initiative schools composite shows a four-year gain of ten percentage points in writing, with 55.7% of 10th graders in small schools earning passing scores in the ’08-’09 school year. This exceeded Oregon’s average of 55%. In reading, the Initiative schools’ composite reflects a four-year  gain of five percentage points to reach 64.8%. Initiative school composite gains in math were nearly four percentage points..

Most promising of all, though, were results from our Initiative schools that serve  disproportionate percentages of students of color and students on free and reduced lunch. These schools experienced double digit gains in all three subjects over five years: 21 percentage points in writing, 13 in reading and 10 in math.

The Oregon Small Schools Initiative has been generously funded by Meyer Memorial Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. With its two-year extension grant, Meyer Memorial Trust recognized the importance of time for the Initiative to capture meaningful comparative data on student performance. The ’08-’09 OAKS report provides another valuable year’s worth of data for analysis. Given the relatively small portfolio of schools and students, fluctuations and swings can be expected from one year to the next. Nevertheless, the OAKS results reflect the strong promise of small schools in creating conditions for improved focus on teaching and learning, and therefore student achievement.

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Small Schools Students appointed to Youth Advisory Team

Five students currently attending high schools participating in the Oregon Small Schools Initiative were invited by Sue Castillo, the Oregon State Superintendent of Schools, to join her Youth Advisory Team. The composition of the Youth Advisory Team, originally created in 2003, changes each year as seniors graduate and new students are invited to join. It convenes throughout the school year to consider specific issues and concerns in education and then provide recommendations. In recent years the Youth Advisory Team gave input on Oregon’s new diploma requirements, and advocated for the addition of a student advisor on the Oregon State Board of Education.

This year’s participants from Initiative schools include:

• Alexa Morris, a senior at the Woodburn Academy of Art, Science & Technology and co-chair of the Youth Advisory Team
• Jennifer Kerfoot, a junior at the School of IDEAS (Invention, Design, Engineering, Art and Science) in Eugene
• Thor Slaughter, a senior at North International High School in Eugene,
• Komal Singh, a senior at POWER (Pursuit of Wellness and Education at Roosevelt) in Portland
• Ari Strudler, a junior at Leadership and Entrepreneurial Public Charter High School in Portland 

To learn more about the Youth Advisory Team, click here

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