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With the beginning of fall comes a now familiar tune: Oregon students continue to post outcomes on the statewide assessment that lag behind pre-pandemic results.
Students take the Oregon Statewide Assessment System, known in shorthand as OSAS, in spring of each school year. State results from the 2025–26 school year indicate English and language arts proficiency is at 43.8%, mathematics is at 32.9%, and science is at 30.6%. That’s a slight uptick from last year, when those percentages were 43%, 31.5% and 30%, respectively.
At a Tuesday webinar for reporters, Oregon Department of Education director Dr. Charlene Williams said this year’s results brought some “encouraging news.” Williams credited the Education Accountability Act, backed by Gov. Tina Kotek, for better defining clear goals and a commitment to acting on data, signaling optimism.
“Meaningful change doesn’t happen overnight, and yet and still we need to act with urgency. We must keep our foot on the gas,” Williams said. “We are focused on steady, sustained gains that build over time. And while this year’s results may not feel transformational on their own, sustained improvement year after year can fundamentally change outcomes and the trajectory for our scholars.”
But the results indicate that today’s students continue to struggle with academic recovery. Scores still significantly lag behind pre-pandemic student achievement, and are even further away from new achievement goals set under Senate Bill 141, the education accountability bill.
Two metrics illustrate the dissonance between current performance and the state’s hopes for student achievement. Among other benchmarks, Kotek has zoomed in on two metrics that education experts often cite as key indicators of student success in later life: third grade reading and eighth grade math.
Last year, 41.5% of third graders demonstrated proficiency in reading—a 1.2 percentage point growth from last year. Meanwhile, SB 141 sets sights on third grade reading proficiency hitting 52.6% by the 2029–30 school year. Similarly, 30% of eighth graders demonstrated math proficiency this past school year, a 1.1 percentage point increase. The state’s performance growth targets eye proficiency hitting 52% by the 2029–30 school year.
Last year’s third graders’ literacy outcomes are particularly important because the cohort benefited from two years of early literacy investments. (In 2023, lawmakers approved $140 million in a literacy funding bill.)
Angelica Cruz, director of literacy at ODE, told reporters the state was seeing early signs that its investments were paying off. She said the state’s focus on the distribution of high-quality instructional materials would be crucial to seeing improvements grow.
“Literacy achievement when you’re implementing a big initiative takes time, and when we look at states like Mississippi that started in 2013, it took several years before they saw significant gains,” Cruz said. “We are encouraged by the gradual progression that we’ve seen the last two years for Oregon, and hope to continue to see that improve.”
There was one particularly promising statistic around literacy. Officials said that 75% of students who had participated in school-based high-dosage tutoring demonstrated literacy growth on the OSAS this year.
But similar to years prior, OSAS scores continue to reflect current weaknesses in the state’s education system. Students of color and low-income students continue to underperform compared with their peers, and participation rates still fall behind federal law requirements of 95%. This year, participation rates in all three subjects hovered close to 90%. The state’s low participation rates have prevented researchers from using Oregon’s data in a number of nationwide studies on pandemic recovery.
Williams said her agency has plans to better encourage participation. “We want every student who is able to participate in these tests because higher participation gives us a more complete picture of student learning across the state,” she said.
OSAS is administered to students from third to eighth grade, and again in their junior year of high school. Students are sorted into four levels of subject mastery, with those in levels 3 and 4 considered proficient. ODE officials on Tuesday continued to stay on defense around students who tested at level 2 proficiency, noting those students often met some grade-level skills but failed to consistently demonstrate them.
Portland Public Schools saw another year of gains that outpaced the state’s. Oregon’s largest school district reported 57.8% of kids proficient in English and language arts, 50.5% in mathematics, and 45.1% in science. Last year, the district reported 57%, 48.5% and 42.5% in those subjects, respectively.
Valerie Feder, a spokeswoman for the district, said PPS officials were proud to see positive growth and results in the district. But she said the district understands significant gaps remain, particularly for Black students and multilingual learners.
“We remain focused on expanding what is working and ensuring every student, in every classroom, has the support and high-quality instruction they need to thrive,” Feder said.
