Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Oregon again says students don’t need to prove mastery of reading, writing or math to graduate, citing harm to students of color
OregonLive ^ | Oct. 19, 2023 | Sami Edge

Posted on 10/21/2023 1:01:01 PM PDT by hiho hiho

Oregon high school students won’t have to prove basic mastery of reading, writing or math to graduate from high school until at least 2029, the state Board of Education decided unanimously on Thursday, extending the pause on the controversial graduation requirement that began in 2020.

The vote went against the desires of dozens of Oregonians who submitted public comments insisting the standards should be reinstated, including former Republican gubernatorial candidate Christine Drazan. Backlash against the lowered standard had already delayed the vote, originally slated to take place in September.

Opponents argued that pausing the requirement devalues an Oregon diploma. Giving students with low academic skills extra instruction in writing and math, which most high schools did in response to the graduation rules, helped them, they have argued.

But leaders at the Oregon Department of Education and members of the state school board said requiring all students to pass one of several standardized tests or create an in-depth assignment their teacher judged as meeting state standards was a harmful hurdle for historically marginalized students, a misuse of state tests and did not translate to meaningful improvements in students’ post high school success.

Higher rates of students of color, students learning English as a second language and students with disabilities ended up having to take intensive senior-year writing and math classes to prove they deserved a diploma. That denied those students the opportunity to take an elective, despite the lack of evidence the extra academic work helped them in the workplace or at college, they said.

Board members underscored that state-mandated standardized tests will still be administered to most Oregon high school students – they just won’t be used to determine whether a student has the skills necessary to graduate.

“We haven’t suspended any sort of assessments,” state board member Vicky López Sánchez, a dean at Portland Community College, said during Thursday’s meeting. “The only thing we are suspending is the inappropriate use of how those assessments were being used. I think that really is in the best interest of Oregon students.”

Oregon lawmakers, however, have mandated that families be told each year that they can opt their student out of taking state tests – and one third of high school juniors didn’t take the tests last spring, meaning they and their families don’t necessarily know how they measure up against statewide academic standards.

Proving mastery of reading, writing and math on one of many standardized tests or a teacher-judged in-depth assignment was one of several Oregon graduation requirements. Students also have to earn a prescribed number of credits and complete an education plan that maps out how they can achieve post high-school goals.

During the pandemic, Gov. Kate Brown signed a bill freezing the proficiency requirement, as standardized tests weren’t happening amid school closures. Lawmakers decided to order a more comprehensive review of graduation requirements.

After broad outreach to families, educators, students and employers, with a particular focus on people of color, the Oregon Department of Education recommended new graduation recommendations about a year ago. One of those was to scrap the requirement to show mastery of reading, writing and math. State lawmakers have not acted on that recommendation, and the department in the meantime asked the state board to continue its pause through at least the 2027-28 school year.

Speaking of the academic mastery requirements, Dan Farley, assistant superintendent of research and data for the department, told the state board Thursday, “They did not work. What they were designed to do is protect student interests. We have no evidence that they did that.”

Farley pointed to a 2021 analysis by Oregon’s Higher Education Coordinating Commission that found no clear evidence that implementing the proficiency standards improved the performance of Oregon high school graduates during their first year of community college or university classes. The report did not study all possible postsecondary outcomes, Farley told the commission, and the state could do further research on that point.

The report also notes that it’s possible that the level of skill required to meet Oregon’s since-paused academic mastery standards was “too low to improve college and university outcomes.” It’s also possible, the report said, that student success in college relies more heavily on other factors than writing or math skill levels.

Suspending the requirement at least until the class of 2029 gives the state more time to do community outreach about how best to overhaul the grad standards, Farley said, and gives future high school students plenty of time to prepare if this standard does resume.

Hundreds of people submitted written comments to board members about the requirement for students to demonstrate academic mastery, the vast majority in favor of keeping it. Many of those critical emails used the same stock language.

Drazan, a former member of the Legislature, wrote that she had opposed the 2021 bill that suspended the requirement in the first place. Oregon doesn’t need to decrease standards, she wrote, but create and act on a concrete plan to increase students’ academic achievement.

“The board failed to discuss their responsibility for lagging academic achievement in our state. Instead they cast the blame on a tool used to measure a student’s ability to read, write and do math,” Drazan said in a news release sent after the vote. “It’s disappointing that these unelected bureaucrats decided to ignore public comment and continue down a path that neglects their responsibility to help students meet high standards.”

Whitney Grubbs, executive director for Foundations for a Better Oregon, a coalition of Oregon-based nonprofits that advocates for educational equity among other school reforms, wrote in public testimony that pausing or ending graduation requirements without proposing more effective and equitable alternatives “risks leading Oregonians to believe that our state is lowering expectations to artificially mask disparities” and reinforces false and prejudiced ideas that students’ demographics dictate their academic success.

“As Oregonians, we hold high expectations for students because we believe in the boundless potential of children,” Grubbs’ testimony said. “...We urge state leaders to articulate a plan for holding Oregon’s education system accountable for demonstrating whether and how it is supporting all students to meet graduation requirements.”


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events; US: Oregon
KEYWORDS: arth; chat; highschool; math; oregon; poc; racism; reading; writing
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081 next last
To: PGR88

I agree.


61 posted on 10/21/2023 3:20:42 PM PDT by FlingWingFlyer (Real Country Singing Stars aren't given Grammys by the retarded, "woke" left. Nobody has to resign.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 22 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho
Frederick Douglass was a slave who taught himself to read and write. In his 1848 "Letter to Thomas Auld": Douglass denounced his former slaveholder for leaving Douglass's family illiterate:

Your wickedness and cruelty committed in this respect on your fellow-creatures, are greater than all the stripes you have laid upon my back, or theirs. It is an outrage upon the soul—a war upon the immortal spirit, and one for which you must give account at the bar of our common Father and Creator.

62 posted on 10/21/2023 3:37:42 PM PDT by Nateman (If Mohammad was not the Anti Christ Mad Moe definitely comes in as a Strong second.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ridesthemiles

......well, he was a good worker. He just could not communicate in writing.


63 posted on 10/21/2023 3:38:07 PM PDT by Cen-Tejas
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

A generation of mouth breathers will rule the world


64 posted on 10/21/2023 3:39:43 PM PDT by Lockbar (Even when you think you finally have enough ammo, you still really don't have enough. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

They should require them only for white and asian students…publicly


65 posted on 10/21/2023 3:57:18 PM PDT by dsrtsage ( Complexity is just simple lacking imagination)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

It is. Maybe someone can explain to me how it is not racist.


66 posted on 10/21/2023 4:32:52 PM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

“But leaders at the Oregon Department of Education and members of the state school board said requiring all students to pass one of several standardized tests or create an in-depth assignment their teacher judged as meeting state standards was a harmful hurdle for historically marginalized students, a misuse of state tests and did not translate to meaningful improvements in students’ post high school success.”

They really do hate the whole idea of merit and helping students achieve academic success. Fair enough, at least they are honest. My response is this,
If higher standards do not translate to meaningful improvement it sure cannot be argued that lower standards do so. In that case why have them in school at all once they reach an age where they can be legally employed?


67 posted on 10/21/2023 4:36:27 PM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: mewzilla

And their wars.


68 posted on 10/21/2023 4:37:47 PM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Williams

That could backfire. Try making a mathematical mistake when carrying for the cartels. The result ain’t gonna be pretty.


69 posted on 10/21/2023 4:39:13 PM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

The South did indeed rise again. Those sneaky Southerners have found a new way to keep the minority population uneducated. Works like a charm. Minorities need to lay down the law with their schools.


70 posted on 10/21/2023 5:04:58 PM PDT by healy61 (.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

Well they can get jobs pumping gas in Oregon. Maybe.


71 posted on 10/21/2023 5:16:56 PM PDT by Reno89519 (It's war. No one murders and takes Americans hostage. Time to act. Declare war on Islamic Hamas.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

Idiots....what greater harm could they do to students of color than to turn them out illiterate and ignorant. Their schools will become failure factories


72 posted on 10/21/2023 5:30:21 PM PDT by The Great RJ ( )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

It’s harmful to an individual to try to master any of the basics.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
/sarc


73 posted on 10/21/2023 6:00:38 PM PDT by FamiliarFace (I got my own way of livin' But everything gets done With a southern accent Where I come from. TPetty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

Idiocracy.


74 posted on 10/21/2023 6:02:40 PM PDT by Pajamajan (Pray for our nation. Never be slave in a new Socialist America )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho
"Oregon again says students don’t need to prove mastery of reading, writing or math to graduate, citing harm to students of color"


75 posted on 10/21/2023 6:12:36 PM PDT by clearcarbon (Fraudulent elections have consequences.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

Harm Crimes


76 posted on 10/21/2023 6:18:28 PM PDT by linMcHlp
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho

Keep them dumb down and on the plantation.


77 posted on 10/21/2023 6:33:28 PM PDT by RetiredTexasVet (Biden not only suffers fools and criminals, he appoints them to positions of responsibility. )
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: The Louiswu

I do not think there are really enough “thugs” in Oregon to riot...altho the racists (white women/antifa) will


78 posted on 10/21/2023 7:46:11 PM PDT by goodnesswins ( We pretend to juvote and they pretend to count the votes.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: hiho hiho
ended up having to take intensive senior-year writing and math classes to prove they deserved a diploma. That denied those students the opportunity to take an elective, despite the lack of evidence the extra academic work helped them in the workplace or at college, they said.

In what possible way would an elective fun class help students better than improving their terrible knowledge in math or reading?

Maybe if standards and education were improved at the lower grade levels, the students would already be smarter and not have to take remedial addition. Then they could take that all-important underwater basket-weaving intro!
79 posted on 10/22/2023 4:38:59 AM PDT by Svartalfiar
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: conservative_cyclist; ten18; Twotone; VeryFRank; Clinging Bitterly; Rio; aimhigh; Hieronymus; ...
If you would like more information about what’s happening in Oregon, please FReepmail me. Please send me your name by FReepmail if you want to be on this list.
80 posted on 10/23/2023 6:54:37 AM PDT by Twotone
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-8081 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson