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Tests Results for Oregon Public Schools
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The Oregon Statewide Assessment Test (OSA)
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The purposes of the Oregon Statewide Assessment Program
are:
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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.
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To provide information for policy decisions by the
legislature, the governor, the State Board of Education, and local school
districts.
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To support instructional program improvement efforts.
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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.
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.
For further information
go to these two links on the Oregon Department of Education Web site:
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Statewide 2007 OSA Results
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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 Knowledge and Skills Test (multiple-choice)
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3rd Grade (2003-04) 83% (2004-05) 86% (2005-06) 87%
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4th Grade (2003-04) Not tested (2004-05) Not tested
(2005-06) 87%
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5th Grade (2003-04) 77% (2004-05) 82% (2005-06) 83%
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6th Grade (2003-04) Not tested (2004-05) Not tested
(2005-06) 80%
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7th Grade (2003-04) Not tested (2004-05) Not tested
(2005-06) 73%
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8th Grade (2003-04) 60% (2004-05) 62% (2005-06) 66%
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10th Grade (2003-04) 51% (2004-05) 54% (2005-06) 55%
WRITING Test (essay)
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4th Grade (2003-04) Not tested (2004-05) 32% (2005-06)
42%
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7th Grade (2003-04) Not tested (2004-05) 39% (2005-06)
45%
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10th Grade (2003-04) 48% (2004-05) 56% (2005-06) 55%
MATH Knowledge and Skills Test (multiple-choice)
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3rd Grade (2003-04) 82% (2004-05) 86% (2005-06) 86%
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4th Grade (2003-04) Not tested (2004-05) Not tested
(2005-06) 88%
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5th Grade (2003-04) 79% (2004-05) 84% (2005-06) 85%
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6th Grade (2003-04) Not tested (2004-05) Not tested
(2005-06) 77%
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7th Grade (2003-04) Not tested (2004-05) Not tested
(2005-06) 71%
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8th Grade (2003-04) 60% (2004-05) 64% (2005-06) 66%
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10th Grade (2003-04) 43% (2004-05) 47% (2005-06) 45%
SCIENCE Knowledge and Skills Test (multiple-choice)
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5th Grade (2003-04) 70% (2004-05) 75% (2005-06) 79%
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8th Grade (2003-04) 59% (2004-05) 66% (2005-06) 68%
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10th Grade (2003-04) 59% (2004-05) 61% (2005-06) 62%
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Where to Find OSA Reports
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The Oregon Department of Education's Web site has links
to test results by school district as well as downloadable files (Microsoft
Excel spreadsheet) of state assessment results. Reports are available
for downloading at both the district and school level.
The Oregonian, the state of Oregon largest newspaper,
has created tables (PDF format) for the reading, writing, math and science
scores. Below are the 2006 results:
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Portland
Schools This includes the following school districts:
Centennial, David Douglas, Parkrose, Portland, Reynolds, and Riverdale.
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Metro East
Schools
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Metro
South Schools
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Metro
Southwest Schools
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Washington
County Schools This includes Banks,
Beaverton, Forest Grove, Gaston, Glencoe, Hillsboro, Sherwood, and Tigard-Tualatin.
Federal No Child Left Behind Law
The Oregonian, the state's largest newspaper, has
created tables (PDF format) for schools that failed to meet at least
one performance target mandated under the federal No Child Left Behind law.
Schools that miss the target two years in a row are put on a federal troubled
schools list. Of those on the list, only schools that receive federal Title
I funds to help disadvantaged students must offer free transfers or tutoring.
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Portland Schools This includes the following school districts:
Centennial, David Douglas, Parkrose, Portland, Reynolds, and Riverdale.
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Metro East Schools
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Metro South Schools
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Metro Southwest Schools
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Washington County Schools This includes Banks, Beaverton,
Forest Grove, Gaston, Glencoe, Hillsboro, Sherwood, and
Tigard-Tualatin.
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Portland Metro Schools 2006 OSA Results
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Here are some highlights of the test results as reported
in The Oregonian August 10, 2006:
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Portland, Salem-Keizer and Beaverton, which together
educate about one-fifth of Oregon's public school students, all saw
performance gains this year.
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For the first time, all elementary schools in the
Reynolds and Centennial school districts made the grade. But test results
measuring "adequate yearly progress," or AYP, in reading, writing and
math showed that 26 other area schools need improvement. And three schools,
East Gresham Elementary School, H.B. Lee and Reynolds middle schools,
are facing sanctions for missing the mark more than once.
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In the Portland area, the Centennial School District
made gains across the board, and Gresham-Barlow and Hillsboro posted
strong increases in high school performance.
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Two years ago, Roosevelt converted into three smaller
units focused on different themes -- health, Spanish and international
studies, and art and communications. Last year, the schools instituted
a campus wide student conduct and violence prevention program from the
University of Oregon. The smaller schools and the new conduct system
have had positive results, said Roosevelt Principal Deborah Peterson.
Student performance rose in all three of Roosevelt's schools in all
subjects, except for writing in the Spanish academy.
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