Statewide report card offers detailed look at public education
Thursday, November 30, 2017
The Oregon Department of Education released Thursday a wealth of information on Oregon public schools. The Oregon Statewide Report Card 2016-2017 includes data on students, teachers, administrators, schools and assessments.
The report does not include overall school ratings because the Every Student Succeeds Act, which replaced No Child Left Behind, does not require them. ODE is redesigning school report cards for the 2017-18 school year.
The annual report to the Legislature on K-12 education covers rates on graduation and absenteeism, assessments by grade level and student group, and general student achievement.
As of October 2016, 578,947 students were enrolled in public education, 79 percent of school-aged Oregonians. About 37 percent were students of color, and about 11 percent were English learners. Half were eligible for free or reduced-price lunches.
There were 124 charter schools enrolling 32,323 students, 5.6 percent of Oregon public education students. In state tests, charter school students outperformed public school students on reading but underperformed them on math.
According to the report, 71 percent of students met benchmarks on English language arts tests and 35 percent met benchmarks in math at grade 11. In the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Oregon grade 8 students are more proficient in reading, science and math than the national average.
The report looks at spending in schools and how they use their money, as well as the makeup of staff.
Districts employed 31,140 teachers, up from the previous year but still down from a high of 31,659 in 2008-09. Women made up 71 percent of teachers, 51 percent of principals and 30 percent of superintendents. A little over 9 percent of teachers were minorities. Adjusted for inflation, the average teacher or administrator makes the same or less than they did six years ago.
