High school students need a solid academic foundation in reading, writing and mathematics to succeed in today’s economy. The skills young people need to succeed in college are the same skills they need to succeed in family-wage jobs in today’s high-performance, high-growth industries. Recent data paint a conflicting picture of Oregon students’ achievement in these areas.
- After 12 years of state education improvement programs, more students are meeting or exceeding state standards. But around 50% of high school students still do not meet 10th grade standards for reading, writing and mathematics. Researchers from Oregon University System report that students who meet or exceed the 10th grade benchmark are more likely to be ready for college.
- While all students have shown improvement on state assessment tests, only 22% of Latino and 26% of African American students meet state reading benchmarks. In mathematics those numbers are even lower with 20% of African American and 17% of Latino students meeting state standards.
- Oregon Department of Education rated 365 schools, including almost all of the state’s large high schools, as failing to make “Adequate Yearly Progress”
- Oregon's college-bound students lead the nation in scores on the SAT and ACT, tests often required for college admissions. But just over half of graduating seniors take the SAT and only 12% take the ACT, meaning that a majority of students are not getting credentials necessary for applying to college.
In a global economy everyone—from frontline workers to executives—needs high skills, and, increasingly, postsecondary education to succeed. Oregon has to do more to ensure that its young people are meeting and exceeding standards to be prepared for college, work and citizenship.
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