Oregon Students Wallow at the Bottom of National Averages for Math and Reading

Despite more than a billion dollars spent post-pandemic to help public school students recover academically and emotionally, Oregon wallows at the bottom of the national average in math and reading.

Financial Stability Plays a Pivotal Role

The financial stability of families plays a pivotal role in academic success. Students from low-income families fall way behind the achievements of children from more affluent backgrounds, scoring between 25 and 31 points less.

The data is from the National Assessment of Education Progress, a standardized achievement test based on a representative sample of students nationwide.

In Oregon’s 197 school districts, students only managed to fare better than their counterparts in New Mexico in the two subjects.

Oregon Fourth Grader’s Abysmal Results

Oregon fourth graders are ranked second worst math achievers nationwide.

They tied with 10 other states as the third-worst performers in reading.

A third of students scored ‘below basic’ in math. Translated, ‘below basic’ means they could not complete fundamental tasks like identifying whole numbers or locating the lines of symmetry in shapes.

However, a quarter of students nationwide scored ‘below basic.’

Fourth graders were also ‘below basic’ in reading, meaning they could not determine the sequence of events described in a passage or the meaning of a familiar word using context clues.

Their reading achievements lag below 38 states, only scoring better than New Mexico and Alaska.

The data illustrates that the reading skills of fourth graders in 2024 are below those achieved in 2022.

Fifth Graders Shocking Math Skills

Oregon’s fifth graders wallowed in the murky depths of failure by posting math scores shockingly worse than 45 other states. The students only fared better than New Mexico’s fifth graders.

Eighth Graders’ Results Lack Luster

Eighth graders also turned in a lackluster performance with 45% scoring ‘below basic,’ compared to 41% nationwide. ‘Below basic’ means they struggled to grasp basic math skills like finding the missing angle on a triangle. Once again, Oregon only managed to better New Mexico, Alabama, West Virginia, and Delaware.

The state-by-state tests are known as the Nation’s Report Card and offer an insight into classrooms and the commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, Peggy Carr, has made it clear that Oregon is not alone.

The Nation’s Report Card emphasizes that higher-performing students have the upper hand over classmates from humble backgrounds.

Carr concedes that the outcome of the tests is not good but believes improvements are achievable.