Oregon’s schools are struggling to keep up with rising standards, according to new results from the state, released Wednesday.
Students who took reading tests last school year faced a higher bar -- and 8-percent fewer students passed, as a result.
Officials point out that if not for the higher expectations, students would’ve performed better than last year.
In the past, low reading scores might have tagged schools with a “failing" label under the federal No Child Left Behind law. But Oregon now has a waiver from the law.
Crystal Greene, a spokeswoman for the Oregon Department of Education, says “Just because there isn’t as much of the federal accountability piece doesn’t take any pressure from the urgency to get our kids up to the level of skill we know they need to have to be successful.”
Officials are also disappointed that six percent fewer students passed the science exam than a year ago.
But officials say that's partly because of a shift in science assessment toward big concepts -- like “energy” -- rather than on what one official called “random facts."
Math and high school writing results were generally flat.
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