Oregon’s Educational Act for the 21st Century

Oregon’s Educational Act for the 21st Century, enacted in 1991 and amended in each legislative session since 1991, was designed to set standards for all Oregon students and schools. Instead of measuring the amount of time students spend in classrooms to earn a diploma, schools in Oregon are required to define what they expect students to know and be able to do in basic subject areas and then measure student progress toward those goals through class assignments and tests.

The Act’s goal was to ensure that Oregon public school students not only mastered basic skills and met high standards but also could apply those skills as adults. It encouraged school districts to develop a curriculum, kindergarten through grade 12, to help students achieve state standards for Certificates of Initial Mastery (CIM) and Certificates of Advanced Mastery (CAM). State tests were developed and administered in grades 3, 5, 8 and 10 to measure student progress in meeting these standards.

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